The dynamics of the spatiotemporal distribution of excited atoms in a nanosecond discharge with a slot cathode

Abstract

Abstract The work is devoted to the study of the spatiotemporal dynamics of the production of excited atoms in an extended nanosecond discharge with a slot cathode in neon at medium gas pressures. The authors experimentally investigated the frame-by-frame dynamics of the spatiotemporal formation of the discharge optical irradiation with an exposure time of 5 ns and time intervals between frames of 2 ns. Under similar conditions, the concentration of excited neon atoms at metastable levels with a time resolution of about 10 ns was measured by laser absorption spectroscopy, and the current-voltage characteristics of the discharge were experimentally determined in a wide range of amplitudes of voltage pulses and gas pressures in the range of 1–60 Torr. To analyze the kinetic processes in the plasma source under study, numerical simulation of ionization processes in the Comsol Multiphysics software environment was performed using a special Plasma module.