Experimental study and simulation of discharges evolvement of an array micro-hollow cathode (MHC) triggered by nanosecond pulses at an atmospheric pressure

Summary form only given. The parallel operation for array micro-hollow cathode (MHC) discharges is obtained to generate high density of electrons owing to its multi-channel MHC discharges. To ignite all the holes synchronously in one pulse, the individual ballasts might be a method to limit the current of each hole, where the slope of its V-I characteristics is negative. With pre-ionized process, some initial electrons can be “injected” into the holes before discharges, which make it easier to ignite. In this paper, the parallel operation with pre-ionized process is studied.The structure of MHC is typically “sandwich” structure which is composed of several hollow cylinder cathodes and anodes with a diameter of 100um, and alumina as the dielectric with a thickness of 500um. A comparison will be conducted between the discharges with and without pre-ionized process. We will investigate how it effects the parallel operation including ignition voltage, the V-I characteristics and the synchronism of multi-hollow discharges in one pulse. For a better understanding of the discharge process, we will give a simulation result using the finite element method. A fluid model will be implemented to describe its plasma parameters including the electron and ion density, the electron temperature and the potential. It will be confirmed experimentally and theoretically that pre-ionized process is beneficial to the parallel operation for the array MHC discharges triggered by nanosecond pulse.