Effect of Pulse Polarity on Nanosecond Surface Dielectric Barrier Discharge

Abstract

This paper presents the optical emission characteristics of a surface dielectric barrier discharge sustained by repetitive nanosecond pulses with different polarities in the subsonic airflows. The plasma images presented here show that the positive polarity pulsed discharge is stable in the airflows, appearing as a brush-type discharge. While the negative polarity pulsed discharge plasma becomes a filamentary pattern that is evidently spatial inhomogeneous in quiescent air, it behaves unstable in airflows.