Experimental and simulation investigation of electrical and plasma parameters in a low pressure inductively coupled argon plasma

The electrical and plasma parameters of a low pressure inductively coupled argon plasma are investigated over a wide range of parameters(RF power, flow rate and pressure) by diverse characterizations. The external antenna voltage and current increase with the augment of RF power, whereas decline with the enhancement of gas pressure and flow rate conversely.Compared with gas flow rate and pressure, the power transfer efficiency is significantly improved by RF power, and achieved its maximum value of 0.85 after RF power injected excess125 W. Optical emission spectroscopy(OES) provides the local mean values of electron excited temperature and electron density in inductively coupled plasma(ICP) post regime, which vary in a range of 0.81 eV to 1.15 eV and 3.7×10~(16)m~(-3)to 8.7×10~(17)m~(-3)respectively. Numerical results of the average magnitudes of electron temperature and electron density in twodimensional distribution exhibit similar variation trend with the experimental results under different operating condition by using COMSOL Multiphysics. By comprehensively understanding the characteristics in a low pressure ICP, optimized operating conditions could be anticipated aiming at different academic and industrial applications.     

Characteristics of Single Cathode Cascaded Bias Voltage Arc Plasma

A single cathode with a cascaded bias voltage arc plasma source has been developed with a new quartz cathode chamber,instead of the previous copper chambers,to provide better diagnostic observation and access to the plasma optical emission.The cathode chamber cooling scheme is also modified to be naturally cooled only by light emission without cooling water to improve the optical thin performance in the optical path.A single-parameter physical model has been developed to describe the power dissipated in the cascaded bias voltage arc discharge argon plasmas,which have been investigated by utilizing optical emission spectroscopy(OES) and Langmuir probe.In the experiments,discharge currents from 50 A to 100 A,argon flow rates from 800 sccm to 2000 sccm and magnetic fields of 0.1 T and 0.2 T were chosen.The results show:(a) the relationship between the averaged resistivity and the averaged current density exhibits an empirical scaling law as η∝ j~(-0.63369) and the power dissipated in the arc has a strong relation with the filling factor;(b) through the quartz,the argon ions optical emission lines have been easily observed and are dominating with wavelengths between 340 nm and 520 nm,which are the emissions of Ar~+-434.81 nm and Ar~+-442.60 nm line,and theintensities are increasing with the arc current and decreasing with the inlet argon flow rate;and(c) the electron density and temperature can reach 2.0 × 10~(19) m~(-3) and 0.48 eV,respectively,under the conditions of an arc current of 90 A and a magnetic field of 0.2 T.The half-width of the n_e radial profile is approximatively equal to a few Larmor radii of electrons and can be regarded as the diameter of the plasma jet in the experiments.     

Characterization of high flux magnetized helium plasma in SCU-PSI linear device

A high-flux linear plasma device in Sichuan University plasma-surface interaction(SCU-PSI)based on a cascaded arc source has been established to simulate the interactions between helium and hydrogen plasma with the plasma-facing components in fusion reactors.In this paper,the helium plasma has been characterized by a double-pin Langmuir probe.The results show that the stable helium plasma beam with a diameter of 26 mm was constrained very well at a magnetic field strength of 0.3 T.The core density and ion flux of helium plasma have a strong dependence on the applied current,magnetic field strength and gas flow rate.It could reach an electron density of1.2?×?10~(19)m~(-3)and helium ion flux of 3.2?×?10~(22)m~(-2)s~(-1),with a gas flow rate of 4 standard liter per minute,magnetic field strength of 0.2 T and input power of 11 k W.With the addition of-80 Vapplied to the target to increase the helium ion energy and the exposure time of 2 h,the flat top temperature reached about 530°C.The different sizes of nanostructured fuzz on irradiated tungsten and molybdenum samples surfaces under the bombardment of helium ions were observed by scanning electron microscopy.These results measured in the SCU-PSI linear device provide a reference for International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor related PSI research.     

Diagnosis of Electron, Vibrational and Rotational Temperatures in an Ar/N2 Shock Plasma Jet Produced by a Low Pressure DC Cascade Arc Discharge

In this paper,a low pressure Ar/N2 shock plasma jet with clearly multicycle alternating zones produced by a DC cascade arc discharge has been investigated by an emission spectral method combined with Abel inversion analysis.Plasma emission intensity,electron,vibrational and rotational temperatures of the shock plasma have been measured in the expansion and compression zones.The results indicate that the ranges of the measured electron temperature,vibrational temperature and rotational temperature are 1.1 eV to 1.6 eV,0.2 eV to 0.7 eV and 0.19 eV to 0.22 eV,respectively,and it is found for the first time that the vibrational and rotational temperatures increase while the electron temperature decreases in the compression zones.The electron temperature departs from the vibrational and the rotational temperatures due to non-equilibrium plasma efects.Electrons and heavy particles could not completely exchange energy via collisions in the shock plasma jet under the low pressure of 620 Pa or so.     

Plasma effects on the bacteria Escherichia coil via two evaluation methods

The degradation of Escherichia coli bacteria by treatment with cold,weakly ionised,highly dissociated oxygen plasma,with an electron temperature of 3 eV,a plasma density of 8 × 1015 m-3 and a neutral oxygen atom density of 3.5 × 1021 m-3 was studied.To determine the 'real' plasma effects,two methods were used for evaluation and determination,as well as a comparison of the number of bacteria that had survived:the standard plate count technique (PCT) and advanced fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS).Bacteria were deposited onto glass substrates and kept below 50 ℃ during the experiments with oxygen plasma.The results showed that the bacteria had fully degraded after about 2 min of plasma treatment,depending slightly on the amount of bacteria that had been deposited on the substrates.The very precise determination of the O flux on the substrates and the two-method comparison allowed for the determination of the critical dose of oxygen atoms required for the destruction of a bacterial cell wall-about 6 × 1024 m-2-as well as deactivation of the substrates-about 8 × 1025 m-2.These results were taken in order to discuss other results obtained by comparable studies and scientific method evaluations in the determination of plasma effects on bacteria.     

Characterization of a microsecond pulsed non-equilibrium atmospheric pressure Ar plasma using laser scattering and optical emission spectroscopy

A non-equilibrium atmospheric pressure argon(Ar) plasma excited by microsecond pulse is studied experimentally by laser scattering and optical emission spectroscopy(OES), and theoretically by collisional-radiative(CR) model. More specifically, the electron temperature and electron density of plasma are obtained directly by the laser Thomson scattering, the gas temperature is measured by laser Raman scattering, the optical emissions of excited Ar states of plasma are measured by OES. The laser scattering results show that the electron temperature is about 1 eV which is similar to that excited by 60 Hz AC power, but the gas temperature is as low as 300 K compared to about 700 K excited by 60 Hz AC power. It is shown that the microsecond pulsed power supply, rather than nanosecond ones, is short enough to reduce the gas temperature of atmospheric pressure plasma to near room temperature. The electron temperature and electron density are also obtained by CR model based on OES, and find that the intensities of the optical emission intensity lines of 727.41, 811.73, 841.08, 842.83, 852.44 and 912.86 nm of Ar can be used to characterize the behavior of electron density and electron temperature, it is very useful to quickly estimate the activity of the atmospheric pressure Ar plasma in many applications.     

Optical Emission Spectroscopy Analysis of the Early Phase During Femtosecond Laser-Induced Air Breakdown

Single-pulse and double-pulse optical emission spectroscopy （OES） analyses were carried out in air by using ultrashort laser pulses at atmospheric pressure. The aim of this work is to use spectroscopic methods to analyze the early phase of laser-induced plasma after the femtosecond laser pulse. The temporal behavior of emission spectra of air plasma has been characterized. In comparison with the single-pulse scheme, the plasma emission obtained in the double-pulse scheme presents a more intense continuum along with several additional ionic lines. As only one line is available in the single-pulse scheme, the plasma temperature measurements were performed using only the relative line-to-continuum intensity ratio method, whereas the relative line-to-line intensity ratio method and the relative line-to-continuum intensity ratio method were used simultaneously to estimate the electron temperature in the double-pulse scheme. The results reveal that the temperature values obtained by the two methods in the double-pulse scheme agree. Moreover, this shows that the relative line-to-continuum intensity ratio method is suitable for early phase of laser-induced plasma diagnostics. The electron number density was estimated using the Stark broadening method. In the early phase of laser-induced plasma, the temporal evolution of the electron number density exhibits a power law decrease with delay time.     

直流电弧等离子体点火器射流特性研究

采用光谱仪测量了等离子体点火器出口射流的发射光谱,利用玻尔兹曼曲线斜率法计算了射流的电子温度,并通过电离平衡方程计算了射流气体温度,获得点火器出口射流长度、射流速度、电子温度和射流温度随弧电流及进口氩气流量的变化规律。并分析了航空等离子体电弧射流中是否可使用电子温度来代替射流气体温度。实验表明：弧电流随着进口氩气流量的增大而减小;出口射流长度和速度随弧电流的增大而增大,随进口氩气流量的增大先增大后减小;出口电子温度、电子密度和射流温度随弧电流的增大而升高,随氩气流量的增大而降低。     

Asphaltene Erosion Process in Air Plasma: Emission Spectroscopy and Surface Analysis for Air-Plasma Reactions

Optical emission spectroscopy (OES) was applied for plasma characterization during the erosion of asphaltene substrates. An amount of 100 mg of asphaltene was carefully applied to an electrode and exposed to air-plasma glow discharge at a pressure of 1.0 Torr. The plasma was generated in a stainless steel discharge chamber by an ac generator at a frequency of 60 Hz, output power of 50 W and a gas flow rate of 1.8 L/min. The electron temperature and ion density were estimated to be 2.15±0.11 eV and (1.24±0.05)×1016 m-3 , respectively, using a double Langmuir probe. OES was employed to observe the emission from the asphaltene exposed to air plasma. Both molecular band emission from N2 , N+2 , OH, CH, NH, O2 as well as CN, and atomic light emission from V and Hγ were observed and used to monitor the evolution of asphaltene erosion. The asphaltene erosion was analyzed with the aid of a scanning electron microscope (SEM) equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) detector. The EDX analysis showed that the time evolution of elements C, O, S and V were similar; and the chemical composition of the exposed asphaltenes remained constant. Particle size evolution was measured, showing a maximum size of 2307 μm after 60 min. This behavior is most likely related to particle agglomeration as a function of time.     

Preliminary results of optical emission spectroscopy by line ratio method in the RF negative ion source at ASIPP

Optical emission spectroscopy (OES) using the trace rare gases of Ar and Xe have been carried out in a radio frequency (RF) driven negative ion source at Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Science (ASIPP), in order to determine the electron temperature and density of the hydrogen plasma. The line-ratio methods based on population models are applied to describe the radiation process of the excited state particles and establish their relations with the plasma parameters. The spectral lines from the argon and xenon excited state atoms with the wavelength of 750.4 and 828.0 nm are used to calculate the electron temperature based on the corona model. The argon ions emission lines with the wavelength of 480 and 488 nm are selected to calculate the electron density based on the collisional radiative model. OES has given the preliminary results of the electron temperature and density by varying the discharge gas pressure and RF power. According to the experimental results, the typical plasma parameters is T_e ≈ 2–4 eV and n_e ≈ 1×10 ¹⁷– 8×10¹⁷ m⁻³ in front of plasma grid.     

Time-Resolved Optical Emission Spectroscopy Diagnosis of CO2 Laser-Produced SnO2 Plasma

The spectral emission and plasma parameters of SnO_2 plasmas have been investigated.A planar ceramic SnO_2 target was irradiated by a CO2 laser with a full width at half maximum of 80 ns.The temporal behavior of the specific emission lines from the SnO_2 plasma was characterized.The intensities of Sn I and Sn II lines first increased,and then decreased with the delay time.The results also showed a faster decay of Sn I atoms than that of Sn II ionic species.The temporal evolutions of the SnO_2 plasma parameters(electron temperature and density) were deduced.The measured temperature and density of SnO_2 plasma are 4.38 eV to0.5 eV and 11.38×10~(17) cm~(-3) to 1.1×10~(17) cm~(-3),for delay times between 0.1 μs and 2.2 μs.We also investigated the effect of the laser pulse energy on SnO_2 plasma.     

Diagnostic of capacitively coupled radio frequency plasma from electrical discharge characteristics: comparison with optical emission spectroscopy and fluid model simulation

The capacitively coupled radio frequency(CCRF)plasma has been widely used in various fields.In some cases,it requires us to estimate the range of key plasma parameters simpler and quicker in order to understand the behavior in plasma.In this paper,a glass vacuum chamber and a pair of plate electrodes were designed and fabricated,using 13.56 MHz radio frequency(RF)discharge technology to ionize the working gas of Ar.This discharge was mathematically described with equivalent circuit model.The discharge voltage and current of the plasma were measured atdifferent pressures and different powers.Based on the capacitively coupled homogeneous discharge model,the equivalent circuit and the analytical formula were established.The plasma density and temperature were calculated by using the equivalent impedance principle and energy balance equation.The experimental results show that when RF discharge power is 50–300 W and pressure is 25–250 Pa,the average electron temperature is about 1.7–2.1 e V and the average electron density is about 0.5?×?10~(17)–3.6?×?10~(17)m~(-3).Agreement was found when the results were compared to those given by optical emission spectroscopy and COMSOL simulation.     

Effects of Low Energy and High Flux Helium／Hydrogen Plasma Irradiation on Tungsten as Plasma Facing Material

The High-Z material tungsten (W) has been considered as a plasma facing material in the divertor region of ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor). In ITER, the divertor is expected to operate under high particle fluxes (> 1023 m-2s-1) from the plasma as well as from intrinsic impurities with a very low energy (< 200 eV). During the past dacade, the effects of plasma irradiation on tungsten have been studied extensively as functions of the ion energy, fluence and surface temperature in the burning plasma conditions. In this paper, recent results concerning blister and bubble formations on the tungsten surface under low energy (< 100 eV) and high flux (> 1021 m-2s-1) He/H plasma irradiation are reviewed to gain a better understanding of the performance of tungsten as a plasma facing material under the burning plasma conditions.     

Bended probe diagnostics of the plasma characteristics within an ECR ion source with a rectangular waveguide

To reveal the argon plasma characteristics within the entire region of an electron cyclotron resonance(ECR) ion source, the plasma parameters were diagnosed using a bended Langmuir probe with the filament axis perpendicular to the diagnosing plane. Experiments indicate that,with a gas volume flow rate and incident microwave power of 4 sccm and 8.8 W, respectively,the gas was ionized to form plasma with a luminous ring. When the incident microwave power was above 27 W, the luminous ring was converted to a bright column, the dark area near its axis was narrowed, and the microwave power absorbing efficiency was increased. This indicates that there was a mode transition phenomenon in this ECR ion source when the microwave power increased. The diagnosis shows that, at an incident microwave power of 17.4 W, the diagnosed electron temperature and ion density were below 8 eV and 3?×?10~(17) m~(-3), respectively, while at incident microwave power levels of 30 W and 40 W, the maximum electron temperature and ion density were above 11 eV and 6.8?×?10~(17) m~(-3), respectively. Confined by magnetic mirrors, the higher density plasma region had a bow shape, which coincided with the magnetic field lines but deviated from the ECR layer.     

Three-dimensional non-equilibrium modeling of a DC multi-cathode arc plasma torch

In this paper, a three-dimensional non-equilibrium steady arc model is used to investigate the temperature, velocity and electromagnetic field in multi-cathode arc torch, and the formation mechanism of a large-area, uniform and diffused arc plasma is analyzed. The numerical simulation results show that a large volume plasma region can be formed in the central region of the generator during discharge. During this process, the maximum electron temperature appears near the cathode and in the central convergence region, while the maximum heavy particle temperature only appears in the central convergence region. This phenomenon is consistent with the experimental arc images. Near the cathode tip, the arc column is in a contraction state. In the area slightly away from the cathode, the six arc columns begin to join together. In the plasma generator, there is a large-scale current distribution in all directions of X, Y and Z, forming a stable arc plasma with a wide range of diffusion. The calculated electron temperature distribution is in good agreement with the measured electron temperature. The results suggest that the largearea diffused arc plasma in the multi-cathode arc torch is the combined effect of current distribution, convection heat transfer and heat conduction.     

Investigation of E–H mode transition in magnetic-pole-enhanced inductively coupled neon–argon mixture plasma

In this paper, E–H mode transition in magnetic-pole-enhanced inductively coupled neon–argon mixture plasma is investigated in terms of fundamental plasma parameters as a function of argon fraction(0%–100%), operating pressure(1 Pa, 5 Pa, 10 Pa and 50 Pa), and radio frequency(RF) power(5–100 W). An RF compensated Langmuir probe and optical emission spectroscopy are used for the diagnostics of the plasma under study. Owing to the lower ionization potential and higher collision cross-section of argon, when its fraction in the discharge is increased, the mode transition occurs at lower RF power; i.e. for 0% argon and1 Pa pressure, the threshold power of the E–H mode transition is 65 W, which reduces to 20 W when the argon fraction is increased. The electron density increases with the argon fraction at afixed pressure, whereas the temperature decreases with the argon fraction. The relaxation length of the low-energy electrons increases, and decreases for high-energy electrons with argon fraction, due to the Ramseur effect. However, the relaxation length of both groups of electrons decreases with pressure due to reduction in the mean free path. The electron energy probability function(EEPF) profiles are non-Maxwellian in E-mode, attributable to the nonlocal electron kinetics in this mode; however, they evolve to Maxwellian distribution when the discharge transforms to H-mode due to lower electron temperature and higher electron density in H-mode. The tail of the measured EEPFs is found to deplete in both E-and H-modes when the argon fraction in the discharge is increased, because argon has a much lower excitation potential(11.5 eV) than neon(16.6 eV).     

Measurement of time-varying electron density of the plasma generated from a small-size cylindrical RDX explosion by Rayleigh microwave scattering

It is challenging to measure the electron density of the unsteady plasma formed by charged particles generated from explosions in the air, because it is transient and on a microsecond time scale. In this study, the time-varying electron density of the plasma generated from a small cylindrical cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine(RDX) explosion in air was measured, based on the principle of microwave Rayleigh scattering. It was found that the evolution of the electron density is related to the diffusion of the detonation products. The application of the Rayleigh microwave scattering principle is an attempt to estimate the electron density in explosively generated plasma. Using the equivalent radius and length of the detonation products in the bright areas of images taken by a high-speed framing camera, the electron density was determined to be of the order of 10~(20) m~(-3). The delay time between the initiation time and the start of variation in the electron-density curve was 2.77–6.93 μs. In the time-varying Rayleigh microwave scattering signal curve of the explosively generated plasma, the electron density had two fluctuation processes. The durations of the first stage and the second stage were 11.32 μs and 19.20 μs,respectively. Both fluctuation processes increased rapidly to a peak value and then rapidly attenuated with time. This revealed the movement characteristics of the charged particles during the explosion.     

Estimation of plasma parameters in the process of micro-scale powder plastic and characteristics of its products

The temperature and density of plasma jets were estimated with a Boltzmann plot and Stark broadening of Ar I (696.54 nm) lines by optical emission spectroscopy (OES) in the process of plasma plastic, and the morphology and microstructure of tungsten (W) powders were investigated by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and x-ray Diffraction (XRD), respectively. The results show that the assumption of local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) was invalid at the end of the plasma jets, and earlier than this after the injection of tungsten powder. The temperature and electron density of the plasma jets were up to about T=6797 K with Q_c=50 slpm and n_e=1.05×10¹⁶ cm⁻³ with Q_s=115 slpm at Z=60 mm, respectively, and both dropped rapidly with the injected tungsten powders of 20 μm. After the plasma plastic process, the spherical tungsten powders were prepared and there were some satellite particles on the surface of the spherical products. The tungsten powders were both composed of a single equilibrium α-W phase with a body centered cubic (bbc) crystal structure before and after plasma treatment.     

Spectroscopic study of recombination continuum in arc-heated cold expanding plasma jet

Cold recombining H₂–He mixture plasma and pure He plasma with low electron density are generated by arc discharge followed by expansion into a lower-pressure vessel, and their recombination radiation is analyzed by optical emission spectroscopic measurement. Their electron temperature is determined from the continuum spectra, which is found to agree with those determined from the line intensities of LTE levels within 10% accuracy. Meanwhile, the agreement of electron density is found to be about 20–25%. It is experimentally found that the conventional theory of spectral intensity of the recombination continuum explains the observed continuum spectra very well even for very low electron temperature within the range from 0.07 to 0.2 eV.     

Integrated Operating Scenario to Achieve 100-Second,High Electron Temperature Discharge on EAST

Stationary long pulse plasma of high electron temperature was produced on EAST for the first time through an integrated control of plasma shape,divertor heat flux,particle exhaust,wall conditioning,impurity management,and the coupling of multiple heating and current drive power.A discharge with a lower single null divertor configuration was maintained for 103 s at a plasma current of 0.4 MA,q_(95)≈7.0,a peak electron temperature of 4.5 keV,and a central density n_e(0)~2.5×10~(19) m~(-3).The plasma current was nearly non-inductive(V_(loop) 0.05 V,poloidal beta ~0.9) driven by a combination of 0.6 MW lower hybrid wave at 2.45 GHz,1.4 MW lower hybrid wave at 4.6 GHz,0.5 MW electron cyclotron heating at 140 GHz,and 0.4 MW modulated neutral deuterium beam injected at 60 kV.This progress demonstrated strong synergy of electron cyclotron and lower hybrid electron heating,current drive,and energy confinement of stationary plasma on EAST.It further introduced an example of integrated "hybrid" operating scenario of interest to ITER and CFETR.