Large scale N2 plasma induced by electron beam at high pressure

Summary form only given. Plasma induced by electron beam (EB) have been receiving widely attentions for its attractive features compared with traditional plasma generation techniques such as dielectric barrier discharge, electron cyclotron resonance and the surface wave¹. This plasma source has higher ionization and dissociation efficiencies and can generate large scale non-equilibrium plasma at high pressure. Besides, by using high energy electron beam, it is convenient to control the electron density via modulation of beam parameters such as the beam energy. In this paper, a large scale non-equilibrium plasma, Fig. 1 which has a diameter of 50 cm and length of 35 cm at 20 kPa N₂ induced by electron beam is reported. The experimental results are consistent with the results simulated by software EGSnrc. The emission spectra reveals that the plasma contains abundant excited N*₂ and N⁺₂. It is similar to the traditional plasma generation techniques such as pulse discharge. The rotational and vibrational temperature of the plasma next to the electron beam entrance is about 550 and 1700 K, respectively. The results of time evolution experiment show that there are no obvious influences of space charge on this plasma.