Characterisation of a Simple Non-Thermal Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Source for Biomedical Research Applications

The recent progress in plasma medicine as well as biomedical aspects of plasma physics over the last years have enhanced the need for experimental plasma devices which are capable of producing non-thermal atmospheric pressure plasmas. These plasma sources are used for studying the effect of non-thermal plasmas on biological samples of different nature. In this paper we present such an easy to build low cost apparatus that can be used for scientific as well as for educational purposes. Directions for the construction of the device are given and the basic plasma parameters are investigated. The characterisation of the experiment was done by electrical diagnostics for the measurements of the plasma potential in combination with optical emission spectroscopy. The latter is used for the determination of the excitation temperature of the plasma and the electron density. Furthermore the influence of the produced plasma on yeast cells is demonstrated. The produced plasma is characterised in different ways and it was found that the feeding gas has also a considerable impact on the radio frequency wave form of the source. It is also demonstrated that the constructed plasma source is capable of producing non-thermal plasma that hinder cell growth of yeast colonies on a agar substrate. ((c) 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)