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Title: Investigation on the similarity law of low-pressure glow discharges based on the light intensity distributions in geometrically similar gaps

Journal Article · · Physics of Plasmas
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4997425· OSTI ID:1474307
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [3]
  1. Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China). Dept. of Electrical Engineering; Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States). Dept. of Computational Mathematics, Science and Engineering, and Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering
  2. Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China). Dept. of Electrical Engineering
  3. East Lansing, MI (United States). Dept. of Computational Mathematics, Science and Engineering, and Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Experimental investigation of the light intensity distributions of a low-pressure glow discharge is carried out in several pairs of geometrically similar plane-parallel gaps, of which the aspect ratios and the products of the linear dimension and the gas pressure are the same. The discharge images are captured using a Charge Coupled Device camera, from which the corresponding axial light intensity distributions are presented. Based on the obtained light intensity distributions, the thicknesses of cathode fall layers were identified by measuring the distance between the peak glow position and the cathode boundary. The influence of the discharge current on the light intensity distributions on the geometrically similar gaps is also investigated. It was found that, for discharges in each pair of geometrically similar gaps, the reduced cathode fall thicknesses are observed to be identical when the discharge currents are the same. In conclusion, the similarity relation of the cathode fall thickness is validated for low-pressure glow discharges in gaps for different aspect ratios.

Research Organization:
Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC); US Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0001939
OSTI ID:
1474307
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1373989
Journal Information:
Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 24, Issue 8; ISSN 1070-664X
Publisher:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (33)

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