Experimental study of low-pressure nitrogen dielectric barrier discharge

the electrical and spectral characteristics of a dielectric barrier discharge (dbd) are experimentally investigated in a sealed off coaxial cylinder filled with nitrogen at a pressure of 10 mbar. the discharge is a transient diffused glow at low frequency alternating voltage (60 hz) and changes to a filamentary mode at high frequency alternating voltage (35 khz). in case of pulsed voltage, the discharge is always transient diffused glow at any frequency. the intensity of a second positive system (sps) of the nitrogen molecule has been also measured to characterize the discharge excitation. the effective vibrational temperature is estimated from the sps vibrational band, δv = -2. it is concluded that the intensity of the sps of the nitrogen and the effective vibrational temperature depends upon the reduced electric field and the energy consumed per cycle by the device.