High-speed photographs of a dielectric barrier atmospheric pressure plasma jet

The propagation of an atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) is investigated by use of an intensified charge coupled device (ICCD) camera. It is shown that the APPJ is mainly an electrical phenomenon and not a flow related one. The jet does not consist of a voluminous plasma. Much more, the presented plasma source acts like a "plasma gun" blowing small "plasma bullets" out of its mouth. Furthermore, the interaction of the jet with a surface has been investigated.

The development of atmospheric pressure plasma (APP) sources to replace plasma processing in vacuum systems is a current trend in industrial plasma engineering. For complex plasma treatments of real three-dimensional (3-D) work pieces, it is desired to develop plasma sources, working in “remote” mode. This means that there exists a distance between the zone of plasma production and the treatment zone. Numerous atmospheric pressure plasma jets (APPJ) are known for some years, mostly powered by radio frequency (RF) supplies and working with high gas flow rates to blow the plasma out of the plasma production zone [1].