Electron density and gas density measurements in a millimeter-wave discharge

Schaub, S. C.; Hummelt, J. S.; Guss, W. C.; Shapiro, M. A.; Temkin, R. J.

doi:10.1063/1.4959171

Title: Electron density and gas density measurements in a millimeter-wave discharge

Journal Article · Tue Aug 09 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4959171· OSTI ID:1467854

^[1]; Hummelt, J. S. ^[1]; Guss, W. C. ^[1]; Shapiro, M. A. ^[1];

^[1]

Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States). Plasma Science and Fusion Center

Here, electron density and neutral gas density have been measured in a non-equilibrium air breakdown plasma using optical emission spectroscopy and two-dimensional laser interferometry, respectively. A plasma was created with a focused high frequency microwave beam in air. Experiments were run with 110 GHz and 124.5 GHz microwaves at powers up to 1.2 MW. Microwave pulses were 3 μs long at 110 GHz and 2.2 μs long at 124.5 GHz. Electron density was measured over a pressure range of 25 to 700 Torr as the input microwave power was varied. Electron density was found to be close to the critical density, where the collisional plasma frequency is equal to the microwave frequency, over the pressure range studied and to vary weakly with input power. Neutral gas density was measured over a pressure range from 150 to 750 Torr at power levels high above the threshold for initiating breakdown. The two-dimensional structure of the neutral gas density was resolved. Intense, localized heating was found to occur hundreds of nanoseconds after visible plasma formed. This heating led to neutral gas density reductions of greater than 80% where peak plasma densities occurred. Spatial structure and temporal dynamics of gas heating at atmospheric pressure were found to agree well with published numerical simulations.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

View Accepted Manuscript (Publisher)

Cite

Export

Save

Research Organization:: Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES); US Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR)

Grant/Contract Number:: FC02-93ER54186; FA9550-15-1-0058

OSTI ID:: 1467854

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1287753

Journal Information:: Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 23, Issue 8; ISSN 1070-664X

Publisher:: American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Citation Metrics:

Cited by: 33 works

Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (30)

Pattern formation and propagation during microwave breakdown Chaudhury, Bhaskar; Boeuf, Jean-Pierre; Zhu, Guo Qiang Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 17, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3517177	journal	December 2010
Optical diagnostics of atmospheric pressure air plasmas Laux, C. O.; Spence, T. G.; Kruger, C. H. Plasma Sources Science and Technology, Vol. 12, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1088/0963-0252/12/2/301	journal	February 2003
Iterative method for computing the inverse Abel transform Vicharelli, Pablo A.; Lapatovich, Walter P. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 50, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.98133	journal	March 1987
Hydrogen Balmer lines for low electron number density plasma diagnostics Konjević, N.; Ivković, M.; Sakan, N. Spectrochimica Acta Part B: Atomic Spectroscopy, Vol. 76 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sab.2012.06.026	journal	October 2012
Computational Studies of Filamentary Pattern Formation in a High Power Microwave Breakdown Generated Air Plasma Chaudhury, Bhaskar; Boeuf, Jean-Pierre IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, Vol. 38, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1109/TPS.2010.2055893	journal	September 2010
Experimental Results for a Pulsed 110/124.5-GHz Megawatt Gyrotron Tax, David S.; Rock, Benjamin Y.; Fox, Bryan J. IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, Vol. 42, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1109/TPS.2014.2314019	journal	May 2014
New plasma diagnosis tables of hydrogen Stark broadening including ion dynamics Gigosos, Marco A.; Cardeñoso, Valentín Journal of Physics B: Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics, Vol. 29, Issue 20 https://doi.org/10.1088/0953-4075/29/20/029	journal	October 1996
Study of a Stationary Breakdown Wave Under the Conditions of Noticeable Reflection of the Incident Electromagnetic Wave from a Gas-Discharge Plasma Semenov, V. E.; Rakova, E. I.; Glyavin, M. Yu. Radiophysics and Quantum Electronics, Vol. 58, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11141-015-9607-0	journal	October 2015
Observation of Large Arrays of Plasma Filaments in Air Breakdown by 1.5-MW 110-GHz Gyrotron Pulses Hidaka, Yoshiteru; Choi, E. M.; Mastovsky, I. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 100, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.035003	journal	January 2008
Ionization–diffusion plasma front propagation in a microwave field Zhu, Guo Qiang; Boeuf, Jean-Pierre; Chaudhury, Bhaskar Plasma Sources Science and Technology, Vol. 20, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1088/0963-0252/20/3/035007	journal	April 2011
Plasma generation using high-power millimeter-wave beam and its application for thrust generation Oda, Yasuhisa; Komurasaki, Kimiya; Takahashi, Koji Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 100, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2399899	journal	January 2006
Accurate Atomic Transition Probabilities for Hydrogen, Helium, and Lithium Wiese, W. L.; Fuhr, J. R. Journal of Physical and Chemical Reference Data, Vol. 38, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3077727	journal	September 2009
Modeling study on pressure dependence of plasma structure and formation in 110 GHz microwave air breakdown Zhou, Qianhong; Dong, Zhiwei Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 98, Issue 16 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3583452	journal	April 2011
Spectroscopic temperature measurements of air breakdown plasma using a 110 GHz megawatt gyrotron beam Hummelt, J. S.; Shapiro, M. A.; Temkin, R. J. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 19, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4773037	journal	December 2012
Gas Discharge Physics Raizer, Yuri P.; Allen, John E. Springer Berlin, Heidelberg https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-61247-3	book	January 1991
Features of plasma glow in low pressure terahertz gas discharge Bratman, V. L.; Golubev, S. V.; Izotov, I. V. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 20, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4853515	journal	December 2013
A critical compilation of experimental data on spectral lines and energy levels of hydrogen, deuterium, and tritium Kramida, A. E. Atomic Data and Nuclear Data Tables, Vol. 96, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adt.2010.05.001	journal	November 2010
Plasma structures observed in gas breakdown using a 1.5 MW, 110 GHz pulsed gyrotron Hidaka, Yoshiteru; Choi, E. M.; Mastovsky, I. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 16, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3083218	journal	May 2009
Theory and Modeling of Self-Organization and Propagation of Filamentary Plasma Arrays in Microwave Breakdown at Atmospheric Pressure Boeuf, Jean-Pierre; Chaudhury, Bhaskar; Zhu, Guo Qiang Physical Review Letters, Vol. 104, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.104.015002	journal	January 2010
Pressure dependence of plasma structure in microwave gas breakdown at 110 GHz Cook, Alan; Shapiro, Michael; Temkin, Richard Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 97, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3462320	journal	July 2010
Theory of Filamentary Plasma Array Formation in Microwave Breakdown at Near-Atmospheric Pressure Nam, Sang Ki; Verboncoeur, John P. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 103, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.055004	journal	July 2009
A one-dimensional study of the evolution of the microwave breakdown in air Semenov, V. E.; Rakova, E. I.; Tarakanov, V. P. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 22, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4930263	journal	September 2015
Dynamics of a nonequilibrium discharge in a converging cylindrical wave under the condition of intensive gas heating Bokolishvili, I. B.; Kim, A. V.; Malinetskii, G. G. Physica Scripta, Vol. 45, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1088/0031-8949/45/2/008	journal	February 1992
Gas heating effects on the formation and propagation of a microwave streamer in air Kourtzanidis, Konstantinos; Rogier, François; Boeuf, Jean-Pierre Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 118, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4930163	journal	September 2015
Two-dimensional continuous wavelet transform for phase determination of complex interferograms Ma, Jun; Wang, Zhaoyang; Pan, Bing Applied Optics, Vol. 50, Issue 16 https://doi.org/10.1364/AO.50.002425	journal	January 2011
Observation of plasma array dynamics in 110 GHz millimeter-wave air breakdown Cook, Alan M.; Hummelt, Jason S.; Shapiro, Michael A. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 18, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3656980	journal	October 2011
Millimeter wave scattering and diffraction in 110 GHz air breakdown plasma Cook, Alan M.; Hummelt, Jason S.; Shapiro, Michael A. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 20, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4798424	journal	April 2013
Spatial carrier fringe pattern demodulation by use of a two-dimensional continuous wavelet transform Gdeisat, Munther A.; Burton, David R.; Lalor, Michael J. Applied Optics, Vol. 45, Issue 34 https://doi.org/10.1364/AO.45.008722	journal	January 2006
Refractivity of combustion gases Gardiner, W. C.; Hidaka, Y.; Tanzawa, T. Combustion and Flame, Vol. 40 https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-2180(81)90124-3	journal	January 1981
Gas discharge physics Rycroft, M. J. Journal of Atmospheric and Terrestrial Physics, Vol. 55, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1016/0021-9169(93)90114-e	journal	August 1993

Cited By (7)

Plasma fluid modeling of microwave streamers: Approximations and accuracy Arcese, Emanuele; Rogier, François; Boeuf, Jean-Pierre Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 24, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5006651	journal	November 2017
Effects of pressure and incident field on visible light intensity from microwave nitrogen breakdown Zhao, Pengcheng; Chang, Chao; Guo, Lixin Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 25, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5017872	journal	February 2018
Numerical analysis of plasma structure observed in atmospheric millimeter-wave discharge at under-critical intensity Nakamura, Yusuke; Komurasaki, Kimiya; Fukunari, Masafumi Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 124, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5023269	journal	July 2018
Electron density measurement of a lightning stepped leader by oxygen spectral lines Cen, Jianyong; Hou, Qiang; Yuan, Ping AIP Advances, Vol. 8, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5042509	journal	August 2018
Discharge from a high-intensity millimeter wave beam and its application to propulsion Takahashi, Masayuki; Komurasaki, Kimiya Advances in Physics: X, Vol. 3, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1080/23746149.2017.1417744	journal	January 2018
Physics and application of gas discharge in millimeter wave beams Vikharev, A. L.; Gorbachev, A. M.; Radishev, D. B. Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, Vol. 52, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6463/aae3a3	journal	October 2018
Space and time evolution of light emitted from microwave nitrogen breakdown Zhao, Pengcheng; Chang, Chao; Guo, Lixin Plasma Sources Science and Technology, Vol. 28, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6595/ab09af	journal	August 2019

Similar Records

Electron density and gas density measurements in a millimeter-wave discharge

Journal Article · Mon Aug 15 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Physics of Plasmas · OSTI ID:1467854

Hummelt, J. S.; Guss, W. C.; Shapiro, M. A.; +1 more

Electron density and gas density measurements in a millimeter-wave discharge

Dataset · Wed Dec 05 00:00:00 EST 2018 · OSTI ID:1467854

Schaub, S. C.; Hummelt, J. S.; Guss, W. C.; +2 more

Intense microwave pulse propagation through gas breakdown plasmas in a waveguide

Thesis/Dissertation · Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1986 · OSTI ID:1467854

Byrne, D P

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
microwave breakdown
gas discharges
radiofrequency discharges
plasma diagnostics
microwave sources
visible light
microwave spectroscopy
electric fields
density measurement

Title: Electron density and gas density measurements in a millimeter-wave discharge

Citation Formats

References (30)

Cited By (7)

Similar Records

Related Subjects