Li Xue-Chen

Self-Organized Filaments in Dielectric Barrier Discharge in Air at Atmospheric Pressure

The self-organized filament pattern created by dielectric barrier discharges in air at atmospheric pressure is investigated experimentally. The density and dimension of filament are analysed quantitatively. The experimental results show that the distance between neighbouring filaments decreases with the increased applied voltage or with the decreased width of the gas gap. Also, the diameter of the filament decreases with the increased applied voltages or with the decreased width of the gas gap.

Simulation of transition from Townsend mode to glow discharge mode in a helium dielectric barrier discharge at atmospheric pressure

The dielectric barrier discharge characteristics in helium at atmospheric pressure are simulated based on a onedimensional uid model. Under some discharge conditions, the results show that one discharge pulse per half voltage cycle usually appears when the amplitude of external voltage is low, while a glow-like discharge occurs at high voltage. For the one discharge pulse per half voltage cycle, the maximum of electron density appears near the anode at the beginning of the discharge, which corresponds to a Townsend discharge mode. The maxima of the electron density and the intensity of electric eld appear in the vicinity of the cathode when the discharge current increases to some extent, which indicates the formation of a cathode-fall region. Therefore, the discharge has a transition from the Townsend mode to the glow discharge mode during one discharge pulse, which is consistent with previous experimental results.

Characteristics of a Normal Glow Discharge Excited by DC Voltage in Atmospheric Pressure Air

Atmospheric pressure glow discharges were generated in an air gap between a needle cathode and a water anode. Through changing the ballast resistor and gas gap width between the electrodes, it has been found that the discharges are in normal glow regime judged from the current-voltage characteristics and visualization of the discharges. Results indicate that the diameter of the positive column increases with increasing discharge current or increasing gap width. Optical emission spectroscopy is used to calculate the electron temperature and vibrational temperature. Both the electron temperature and the vibrational temperature increases with increasing discharge current or increasing gap width. Spatially resolved measurements show that the maxima of electron temperature and vibrational temperature appeared in the vicinity of the needle cathode.

Investigation on the Micro-Discharge Characteristics of Dielectric Barrier Discharge in a Needle-Plate Geometry

In this study, a dielectric barrier discharge device with needle-plate electrodes was used to investigate the characteristics of the micro-discharge in argon at one atmospheric pressure by an optical method. The results show that there are two discharge modes in the dielectric barrier discharge, namely corona mode and filamentary mode. The corona discharge only occurs in the vicinity of the needle tip when the applied voltage is very low. However, the filamentary discharge mode can occur, and micro-discharge bridges the two electrodes when the applied voltage reaches a certain value. The extended area of micro-discharge on the dielectric plate becomes larger with the increase in applied voltage or decrease in gas pressure. The variance of the light emission waveforms is studied as a function of the applied voltage. Results show that very narrow discharge pulse only appears at the negative half cycle of the applied voltage in the corona discharge mode. However, broad hump (about several microseconds) can be discerned at both the negative half cycle and the positive half cycle for a high voltage in the filamentary mode. Furthermore, the inception voltage decreases and the width of the discharge hump increases with the increase in applied voltage. These experimental phenomena can be explained qualitatively by analyzing the discharge mechanism.

Controlling spiral wave with target wave in oscillatory systems

Spiral waves have been controlled by generating target waves with a localized inhomogeneity in the oscillatory medium. The competition between the spiral waves and target waves is discussed. The effect of the localized inhomogeneity size has also been studied.

Conical bubble photoluminescence from rhodamine 6G in 1, 2-propanediol

A modified U-tube conical bubble sonoluminescence device is used to study the conical bubble photoluminescence. The spectra of conical bubble sonoluminescence at different concentrations of rhodamine 6G (Rh6G) solution in 1,2-propanediol have been measured. Results show that the sonoluminescence from the conical bubbles can directly excite Rh6G, which in turn can fluoresce. The light emission of this kind is referred to as conical bubble photoluminescence. The maximum of fluorescence spectral line intensity in the conical bubble photoluminescence has a red shift in relative to that of the standard photo-excited fluorescence, which is due to the higher self-absorption of Rh6G, and the spectral line of conical bubble photoluminescence is broadened in width compared with that of photo-excited fluorescence.

Study on the transition from filamentary discharge to diffuse discharge by using a dielectric barrier surface discharge device

Discharge characteristics have been investigated in different gases under different pressures using a dielectric barrier surface discharge device. Electrical measurements and optical emission spectroscopy are used to study the discharge, and the results obtained show that the discharges in atmospheric pressure helium and in low-pressure air are diffuse, while that in high-pressure air is filamentary. With decreasing pressure, the discharge in air can transit from filamentary to diffuse one. The results also indicate that corona discharge around the stripe electrode is important for the diffuse discharge. The spectral intensity of N2+ (391.4 nm) relative to N2 (337.1 nm) is measured during the transition from diffuse to filamentary discharge. It is shown that relative spectral intensity increases during the discharge transition. This phenomenon implies that the averaged electron energy in diffuse discharge is higher than that in the filamentary discharge.

Temporal behaviour of micro-discharge in dielectric barrier discharges

A special dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) device consisting of two water electrodes has been designed. The temporal behaviour of the micro-discharge (filament) in the DBD in air at atmospheric pressure is measured by using an optical method. The nonsymmetrical characteristic of the filament has been discovered for the first time. We propose an equation regarding the discharge moment by considering the memory effect of the accumulated charge and the influence of the fluctuation. The results deduced from the equation give a good explanation of the experimental phenomenon, which show that the decay time constant of the accumulated charges is much larger than 100 µs. The relative intensity of fluctuation amplitude is in the range 2-4% under the present experimental conditions.

Spatial-Temporal Patterns in a Dielectric Barrier Discharge under Narrow Boundary Conditions in Argon at Atmospheric Pressure

Pattern formation phenomena are investigated in a dielectric barrier discharge under narrow boundary conditions in argon at atmospheric pressure. The discharge shows various scenarios with the increasing applied voltage. This is the first observation of alternating single spot and pair spots pattern and of a moving striation pattern in a dielectric barrier discharge system. The spatial-temporal correlations between discharge filaments in these patterns are measured by an optical method. The results show that the zigzag pattern is an interleaving of two sub-structure patterns, which ignites once for each sub-pattern per half cycle of the applied voltage. There is a temporal sequence inversion in consecutive half-cycles for the two sub-patterns. The pattern of alternating single spot and pair spots is also an interleaving of two sub-structure patterns. However, the pair spots sub-pattern ignites twice and the single spot sub-pattern ignites once per half cycle of the applied voltage.

Excited Electron Temperature and Molecular Vibration Temperature During Transition from Filamentary Discharge to Glow Discharge in Surface Discharge in Air

A dielectric barrier surface discharge device was used to investigate the transition from a filamentary discharge to a glow discharge in air at different gas pressures. Discharge images and waveforms of the applied voltage and discharge current were recorded simultaneously, and it was found that the discharge could transit from filamentary to glow with the decrease in pressure. Optical emission spectra during the transition from a filamentary discharge to a glow one were recorded. Excited electron temperature can be determined from the ratios of the relative intensities of spectral lines while molecular vibration temperature can be measured by analysing spectral lines of the N2 second positive band system. The results show that both the excited temperature and molecular vibration temperature increase with the decrease in the gas pressure. Qualitative explanations are given.