Evolutionary distribution and mode transition in medium frequency from 50 kHz to 5 MHz of argon atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharge plasma

Dielectric barrier discharges (DBDs) provide a promising technology for generating non-equilibrium cold plasmas at atmospheric pressure. For both application-focused and fundamental research, it is important to explore the discharge mode transition and electron heating mechanism to enable effective independent tuning of key plasma parameters in a DBD system. In this work, we report numerical studies of the effects of single-frequency excitation on atmospheric argon DBDs, which are carried out in the medium driving frequency (MF) range from 50 kHz to 5 MHz by using a one-dimensional hydrodynamics coupling model. The spatio-temporal evolution of particle density associated with the discharge mode transition and electron dynamic behavior has been investigated. By tuning different components of a single frequency, we observe the electron heating behaviors of the individual modes and mode transitions from the Townsend discharge to the glow discharge in the low frequency to the Omega mode and the hybrid mode in the medium frequency to the alpha-mode and the gamma-mode in the radio frequency. The physical analysis is understood based on these fundamental insights into the plasma physics.