Study of spatial characteristics of the incomplete surface discharge in atmospheric-pressure air

Spectra of plasma of the incomplete surface discharge in atmospheric-pressure air were measured. Bands of the systems 2+, 1+, and 1− of nitrogen were identified. It was shown that periodic excitation at the C3Πu nitrogen level results in local equilibrium characterized by a vibrational temperature of 2250 K. For the 1+ band system of nitrogen, the structure of rotational transitions was resolved; it was found that the distribution in the 1+ band system is significantly nonequilibrium due to the A3Σu+ level metastability. Transverse and longitudinal sections of the plasma band were scanned. It was found that the transverse distribution of the emission intensity has a maximum at a distance of 1 mm from the electrode edge followed by an exponential decay. The plasma band width was ∼5 mm. The longitudinal discharge structure consisted of a system of microchannels (with a characteristic diameter of 0.4 mm) with diffuse overlapping. The average channel density was 10–15 cm−1. It was shown that the spatial distribution of incomplete discharge plasma is characterized by high stability against wide-range variations of discharge electrical characteristics. For example, as the excitation voltage varies within 2–6 kV, the plasma band width changed by no more than 1 mm, and the vibrational temperature varied within 10–12%.