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In Situ Thermometry in Noble Gas Dielectric Barrier Discharges at Atmospheric Pressure
Author(s) -
Wertheimer Michael R.,
Saoudi Bachir,
Ahlawat Meenu,
Kashyap Raman
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
plasma processes and polymers
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.644
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1612-8869
pISSN - 1612-8850
DOI - 10.1002/ppap.201200028
Subject(s) - atmospheric pressure , glow discharge , dielectric barrier discharge , dielectric , materials science , analytical chemistry (journal) , noble gas , instrumentation (computer programming) , electrode , plasma , thermocouple , chemistry , atomic physics , composite material , optoelectronics , meteorology , physics , environmental chemistry , quantum mechanics , computer science , operating system
Atmospheric pressure (AP) dielectric barrier discharges (DBDs) are increasingly used to treat thermally‐sensitive materials. Reliable measurements of the kinetic gas temperature, T , are therefore of capital importance. Spectroscopically determined rotational temperatures, T rot , are often tacitly assumed to be equal to T . Here, we measured T with fibre‐optic instrumentation that is a priori immune towards high voltages and high‐frequency electromagnetic fields generally encountered in plasmas. Finding T rot > T in AP glow discharge (APGD) DBDs in He and Ne, we believe that T rot ≈ T only during the short (≈ µs) current peaks that characterize APGD. Therefore, T represents the time‐averaged gas temperature; calorimetric measurements using a thermocouple buried in an electrode support this view.