Different patterns of high-energy and low-energy electrons in an atmospheric-pressure microplasma generated by a hairpin resonator

A newly developed device, a hairpin resonator, is used to generate an atmospheric-pressure microplasma with a 1.8 GHz power supply in argon. The two-dimensional distributions of emission lines in such a microplasma are obtained by a spatially resolved optical system. For the first time, it is found that the distributions of high-energy and low-energy electrons have different patterns. The density distribution of the high-energy electrons (with energy higher than that of argon 2p levels) is obtained from the line intensity, while the density of the low-energy ones (approximately equal to the total electron density) is deduced from the emission line ratios. The difference in distribution between the two groups of electrons is related to the different energy-loss characteristic lengths. (fast track communication)