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Barrier discharges, also known as dielectric-barrier discharges or silent discharges, provide a simple technology to establish nonequilibrium plasma conditions in atmospheric-pressure gases. This property has led to a number of industrial applications, including ozone generation, surface modification, pollution control, CO/sub 2/ lasers, excimer lamps, and flat plasma-display panels. Depending on a variety of gas properties, operating parameters, and boundary conditions, the discharge can exhibit pronounced filamentary character, self-organized regular-discharge patterns, or completely diffuse appearance. The literature on these different types of barrier discharges is reviewed, and the underlying physical phenomena are discussed. Relative recent investigations on low-current density diffuse barrier discharges suggest novel applications of fairly "mild" plasmas for sterilization and disinfection purposes and utilizing their selective influence on biological cells.
U. Kogelschatz (Thu,) studied this question.