Dielectric barrier discharges with steep voltage rise: mapping of atomic nitrogen in single filaments measured by laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy

Space and time resolved relative atomic density distributions of nitrogen have been measured for the first time at a single filament within a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor with submillimetre radial dimensions. Two-photon-Absorption Laser-Induced Fluorescence (TALIF) spectroscopy of atomic nitrogen using radiation at λ = 206.7 nm is applied to a DBD with fast rising voltage amplitudes. The decay time of the atomic nitrogen density depends strongly on the position within the discharge and the distance from the dielectric where the lifetime is maximum. Admixed oxygen leads to an increase of the N density decay by an order of magnitude even at small fractions.