Experimental Study and Modelling of the Afterglow of an N2-O2 Microwave Discharge
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2005 |
| Type | Article in Proceedings |
| Conference | Proceeding of 27th International Conference on Phenomena in Ionised Gases |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | Plasma physics |
| Keywords | nitrogen; oxygen; microwave discharge |
| Description | In this work we present a theoretical and experimental investigation of the time-dependence of the concentrations of oxygen O(3P) atoms and NO(B2Đr) molecules in the afterglow of a N2-O2 microwave discharge at low pressures. These species are known to play a central role in sterilization processes by plasmas, due to the erosion caused by the impinging O atoms and to the action of UV radiation. The study is further completed with the analysis of the behaviour of N(4S) atoms and NO(A2 Ó+) molecules. The predictions from the kinetic model are very satisfactory for the emission from NO(A) and NO(B) states. However, in spite of a quantitative agreement on the order of magnitude of the concentrations of N(4S) and O(3P) atoms, the model fails to reproduce accurately the decay time of these species. |
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