Characteristics of a barrier discharge in monatomic and molecular gases

Abstract

We show that, in a parallel-plate dielectric-barrier discharge, monatomic gases behave very differently from molecular gases. Time-resolved images show diffused discharge for monatomic gases and filamentary discharge for molecular gases. In addition, current waveforms also show a marked difference. An empirical relationship for power and voltage is derived which shows good agreement with experimental results for both monatomic and molecular gases.