Self-pulsing of a micro thin cathode discharge

TL;DR

This paper presents a numerical simulation demonstrating self-pulsing behavior in atmospheric pressure microplasmas, revealing its origin and frequency range using a hybrid plasma model.

Contribution

It introduces a hybrid plasma simulation approach to analyze self-pulsing in micro thin cathode discharges at atmospheric pressure.

Findings

Self-pulsing occurs in the MHz frequency range.

The origin of self-pulsing is identified through simulation.

The study advances understanding of plasma dynamics at atmospheric pressure.

Abstract

Microplasmas operated at atmospheric pressure show a number of peculiar dynamic phenomena. One of these phenomena is self-pulsing, which is characterized by intrinsic pulsing behavior of a DC driven plasma discharge. This work focuses on the numerical simulation of self-pulsing in a micro thin cathode discharge operated in atmospheric pressure argon. By means of a hybrid plasma model we show self-pulsing of the discharge in the expected MHz frequency range and described its actual origin.