The role of plasma radius as a condition for sustaining a coaxial discharge at various wave modes

A gas discharge can be produced and sustained by travelling electromagnetic waves in various geometries: planar, spherical, cylindrical and coaxial. An electromagnetic wave travelling along a dielectric tube can produce plasma outside the tube when a metal rod is placed along the tube axis, which is the typical arrangement of a coaxial surface-wave-sustained discharge (CSWD). The CSWD has been studied intensively both theoretically and experimentally since 1998. In the case of a SWD in cylindrical geometry, plasma is mainly produced and sustained by the azimuthally symmetric waves. In coaxial geometry, there are both experimental and theoretical indications showing that higher wave modes may also produce and sustain plasma under certain conditions. In order to find out these conditions theoretically, we developed a one-dimensional fluid model. The purpose of this work is to investigate theoretically the behavior of wave phase diagrams under various discharge conditions and to find the discharge conditions under which plasma can be produced, as well as those conditions when this is not possible.