Investigation of instabilities and striation structures in single filament dielectric barrier discharges in argon at atmospheric pressure

• Applicant: Dr. Markus Becker
• Subject Area: Optics, Quantum Optics and Physics of Atoms, Molecules and Plasmas
• Term: from 2018 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 407462159

In the planed project the formation mechanisms of striated structures and the physical reasons for spontaneous mode transitions and instabilities in dielectric barrier discharges at atmospheric pressure are analysed by means of numerical modelling. For this, a self-consistent hydrodynamic plasma model for the temporal and spatially two-dimensional description of a single filament dielectric barrier discharge in argon at atmospheric pressure will be developed and applied for the investigation of phenomena observed experimentally in the discharge under consideration. In particular, it will be clarified which physical processes are responsible for the formation of the experimentally observed discharge modes and the occurrence of striations along the discharge channel. In addition, the influence of oxygen admixtures on the discharge characteristics is analysed. The novel drift-diffusion approximation for electrons developed previously and the application of established kinetic methods make it possible to study the effect of nonlocal electron energy transport on the generation of striations in dielectric barrier discharges at atmospheric pressure for the first time. The key objective of the project is to gain a deeper physical understanding of the influence of external discharge parameters, such as voltage amplitude and frequency, as well as the impact of gas impurities on the stability of the discharge by means of parametric studies based on a design of experiment analysis. With this, it becomes possible to optimize the input parameters, to control the different discharge modes and to make them usable for applications.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Co-Investigator: Privatdozent Dr. Detlef Loffhagen