Modes in a pulse-modulated radio-frequency dielectric-barrier glow discharge

Abstract

This letter reports an experimental study of a pulse-modulated radio-frequency dielectric-barrier discharge in atmospheric helium. By controlling the duty cycle at a modulation frequency of 10 and 100kHz, the 13.56MHz discharge is shown to operate in three different glow modes: the continuum mode, the discrete mode, and the transition mode. By investigating plasma ignition, residual electrons during power off are found to affect different glow modes. Duty cycle dependences of power density, gas temperature, optical emission intensities at 706 and 777nm are used to capture clearly the characteristics of the three glow modes.