Forced random walks with memory in a glow mode dielectric barrier discharge

In this paper, we present experimental results on dielectric barrier gas-discharge (DBD) systems in helium where the surface is prepared with some humidity. We observe well-defined solitary current filaments with self-propelled motion. The trajectories of the filaments in the discharge plane resemble a random walk motion with memory. The mechanism leading to motion is attributed to the mutual interaction of gas-discharge and local humidity at the dielectric surface. The phenomenon is a new drift mechanism for filaments in DBD and may be important in applications being related to plasma surface treatment.