Atmospheric‐pressure pulsed discharges and plasmas: mechanism, characteristics and applications

Pulsed discharge plasma and its application is one of the promising directions in civilian areasof pulsed power technology. In order to promote the research and development ofthe theory and application technology for pulsed discharge plasma, in thispaper, recent progress on the mechanism of nanosecond-pulse gas discharge andthe characteristics and applications of typical pulsed plasma at the Instituteof Electrical Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences is reviewed. Firstly,progress on mechanism of nanosecond-pulse discharge based on runaway electronsand measurement technology of runaway electrons is introduced. Then, thecharacteristics of three typical discharges, including direct-driven pulseddischarge, pulsed dielectric barrier discharge and pulsed plasma jet, arereviewed. Furthermore, typical plasma applications of pulsed plasma on surfacemodification and methane conversion are presented.