Measurement of the spatiotemporal surface charge distribution in an ac plasma display cell using Pockels effect

摘要

We measured the surface charge distribution in a coplanar type alternating current plasma display panel cell by the longitudinal electro-optic amplitude modulation method with BSO (Bi_(12)SiO_(20)) single crystal. The effects of the initialization condition were investigated to take care of the errors coming from the charge relaxation phenomena of the BSO crystal. Using BSO single crystal as the dielectric layer, the two-dimensional spatiotemporal surface charge distribution was successfully measured in a discharge cell with a discharge gas of neon and xenon 4% at the pressure of 100 torr driven by square-type sustaining pulses. The temporal behavior of the surface charge is compared with the simulated result and the measurement of the infrared light emission from the discharge. The positive and negative surface charges show somewhat different spatiotemporal characteristics.