Experimental Study of a Minitype Atmospheric Non-equilibrium Plasma Source

A mini-type of plasma source was studied experimentally. The results showed that the plasma density, which was generated by an atmospheric non-equilibrium plasma source, rises with the increase in driving electric-field and the momentum of gas particles. For a driving electric-field of 56 kV/cm and a gas particles' momentum of 109 x 1-22 g · m/s, the ion density can exceed 1010/cm3 while the effective volume of the plasma source is only 2.5 cm2. This study may help develop a method to generate a minitype plasma source with low energy consumption but high ion concentration. This source can be used in chemical industry, environmental engineering and military applications. (low temperature plasma)