Optical emission characteristics of surface nanosecond pulsed dielectric barrier discharge plasma

This paper reports an experimental study of the optical emission characteristics of the surface dielectric barrier discharge plasma excited by nanosecond pulsed voltage. N₂(C³Π_u) rotational and vibrational temperatures are almost the same with upper electrode powered with positive polarity and lower electrode grounded or upper electrode grounded and lower electrode powered with positive polarity. While the electron temperature is 12% higher with upper electrode powered with positive polarity and lower electrode grounded. When the frequency is below 2000 Hz, there is almost no influence of applied voltage amplitude and frequency on N ₂(C³Π_u) rotational, vibrational temperature and electron temperature. As the pressure decreases from 760 Torr to 5 Torr, N₂(C³Π_u) rotational temperature remains almost unchanged, while its vibrational temperature decreases initially and then increases. The discharge mode changes from a filamentary type to a glow type around 80 Torr. In the filamentary mode, the electron temperature remains almost unchanged. In the glow mode, the electron temperature increases while the pressure decreases.