Glow and pseudo-glow discharges in a surface discharge generator

摘要

The glow discharge in flowing argon at one atmospheric pressure is realized in a surface discharge generator. The discharge current presents one peak per half-cycle of the applied voltage. The duration of the discharge pulse is more than 1μs when the frequency of the applied voltage is 60kHz. For the glow discharge in argon, the power consumption increases with the increase of voltage or the decrease of gas pressure.This relation is explained qualitatively based on the theory of the Townsend breakdown mechanism. In contrast, the discharge current in one atmospheric pressure air gives many spikes in each half-cycle, and correspondingly this kind of discharge is called pseudo-glow discharge. Every current spike oscillates with high-frequency damping. The pseudo-glow discharge in one atmospheric pressure air might result from the streamer breakdown mechanism.