Formation of a complex luminous pattern in dielectric barrier discharge investigated by an intensified-charge coupled device

A complex luminous pattern showing square superlattice pattern (SSP) appearance on the edge and dot-line square superlattice pattern (DLSSP) appearance in the middle, which is called coexistence of SSP and DLSSP (CSSP), is observed in a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) system. The spatio-temporal structure of CSSP obtained by using an intensified-charge coupled device (ICCD) indicates that CSSP is an interleaving of three kinds of square subpatterns in one half voltage, which is similar to that of SSP and DLSSP. Based on the activation-inhibition mechanism of surface charges, the influence of surface charges of prior discharge to the pattern formation is discussed by comparing the discharge characteristics of CSSP with those of SSP and DLSSP. The amount of surface charges corresponding to the prior discharges for SSP, DLSSP and CSSP is calculated respectively by using the time integration of the total current pulse to verify the above theoretical explanation.