Modeling of Striated Filaments Occurring in a Nonthermal RF Plasma Jet at Atmospheric Pressure

The filaments occurring in an RF argon plasma jet at 27.12 MHz are investigated theoretically. The special setup of this jet leads to filaments in very regular spatiotemporal discharge patterns under certain conditions. Such a single filament generated in the active volume between the powered and grounded electrodes is described by a fluid model. A curved filament with a contracted radial profile and very pronounced striations along its trace has been obtained in accordance with experimental observations.