The Transition Between Different Discharge Regimes in Atmospheric Pressure Air Barrier Discharge

In our previous work [1], we have demonstrated the possibility of observing the transition from a filamentary dielectric barrier discharge operation regime into the diffuse barrier discharge regime in air at atmospheric pressure. This work presents our attempt to reproduce the transition conditions in newly constructed transparent discharge reactor. The role of appropriate power supply and dielectric barrier to stabilize the discharge in a Townsend‐to‐glow discharge region is investigated and discussed. Unlike operating in nitrogen, a streamer mechanism is involved in the formation of the uniform air plasma. Nevertheless the electrical current waveform of a diffuse streamer pulse differs from the filamentary streamer pulse, as the diffuse mode pulse exhibits an extended tail part. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)