Way of stability increase of the glow discharge

Instabilities of a glow discharge significantly limit the opportunities for use of nonequilibrium plasma of a glow discharge [1]. The ionization overheat instability is the main type of glow discharge instabilities. It causes the loss of a non-equilibrium and put the glow discharge to a contracted state. The way of stabilization of glow discharge in transverse gas flow by the use of adaptive control system is considered in the work. The system controls voltage (resistance) of cathodic sections of the discharge chamber. Such fast advancing influence prevents the cathode spot shrinking and subsequent transition to contracted state. The controlling algorithm can be realized both following type and dynamic non-equilibrium type. (paper)