Measurement of the density and rotational temperature of OH in a saturated water vapor slot-excited microwave plasma

Abstract

Abstract OH density and rotational temperature were measured in a saturated water vapor slot-excited microwave plasma using spatio-temporally resolved laser-induced fluorescence. The microwave power was 20–100 W under continuous wave mode, whereas 40–200 W peak under pulse-modulated mode (30% duty cycle, 100 Hz). The water vapor pressure was 2.3 kPa. An approximately 2 mm thick flat-shaped plasma was generated on the surface of a slot antenna. The OH density and rotational temperature in the plasma ranged from 1 × 1014 cm−3 to 1 × 1015 cm−3 and from 1100 K to 3000 K, respectively. OH was produced via various routes originating from electron collisions (e + H2O) and was primarily lost through recombination (OH+OH → H2O+O) and diffusion. The production rate (k p ) of OH per H2O molecule, which was calculated based on a simplified reaction model using the measured OH density and temperature, showed a relation of k p / [ H 2 O ] ∝ P 1.8 , where P represents the microwave power. This relationship implies a two-step production process of OH via the vibrational excitation of H2O. Although the OH density increased with increasing microwave power, the density became saturated at high power values.