Observations of Self-Organized Luminous Patterns on the Anode of a Direct-Current Glow Discharge at Higher Pressures

Abstract

Similarity laws predict the existence of direct-current glow discharges at higher pressures. These scaling laws were developed to study discharges in the low-pressure regime. It is therefore worthwhile to revisit the theories developed for low-pressure discharges and verify their applicability in the atmospheric pressure domain. Similar discharges were investigated in a pressure range of 200-1600 hPa using helium as operating gas. Under certain conditions, a high degree of self-organization could be observed on the anode. In this contribution, we present the trigger criteria for these phenomena. Index Terms-Atmospheric-pressure plasmas, plasma diagnostics, plasma stability, plasma sources anode spots, selforganization.