An atmospheric-pressure nitrogen-plasma jet produced from microdischarges in a porous dielectric

This report presents an atmospheric-pressure nitrogen-plasma jet generated from microdischarges in a porous dielectric. A plasma jet with a length of 42 mm was produced by feeding nitrogen gas through a porous alumina installed between an outer electrode and a hollow inner electrode and by applying 60 Hz sinusoidal voltage wave to the electrodes. Microdischarges in the porous alumina are ejected as a plasma jet from the outer electrode through a 1 mm hole by increasing the applied voltage, showing that the temperature of the jet decreases to a value close to room temperature. Even at a frequency as low as 60 Hz, the plasma that evolves from a large amount of microdischarge inside a porous dielectric can have characteristics that are similar to those generated at several hundreds of kilohertz. From the electrical measurements, it is expected that not only the steady generation but also the frequency of the pulses resulting from the microdischarges in the porous dielectric play an important role in obtaining a stable plasma jet. We also identified the various excited plasma species produced from the plasma jet by an optical emission spectroscopy.