Two-dimensional simulations of plasma flow and charge spreadingacross barrier pixels in AC plasma displays

Two-dimensional multispecies simulations of adjacent pixels separated by a barrier height 80% the gap height in a plasma display pixel cell are performed. The fill gas pressure is 400 torr with 2% xenon in helium. The simulations using a minimum number of excited states of helium and xenon are performed for different cell widths representing different display resolutions. The simulations show plasma transport through the gap to the adjacent pixel which is in the sustained off state. In a sustained off state, there is no discharge in the pixel at the sustained voltage. The simulations show that for low-resolution displays, the plasma overflow does not cause a discharge in the adjacent pixel that is in the sustained off mode, while for a high-resolution display a 20% gap in the barrier height could result in a breakdown in the adjacent off pixel. A higher pixel resolution, or equivalently smaller pixel pitch. requires higher firing and sustained voltages due primarily to increased particle losses as a result of the reduced particle transit times. Finally, using a larger number of excited xenon atomic states including the xenon [6s, j=1] and [6s', j=1] radiative states and the molecular xenon dimer, an isolated single pixel is simulated to model the transport of excited states including the radiative states. The model shows that the density profiles peak in the cathode fall region spreading out to the side walls with decreasing intensity     

One-dimensional fluid and circuit simulation of an AC plasmadisplay cell

A one-dimensional multispecies model of a helium filled AC plasma display cell is described. The model includes a continuity equation for each species. Poisson's equation and a circuit equation. The fill gas is helium for which the cross sections for ionization and excitation for the various atomic states are well known. The reaction rates for the different species were parametrized as functions of E/N using a zero-dimensional spatial and two velocity multispecies Boltzmann kinetic code. Calculations are performed using address and sustain voltages operating at a frequency of 50 kHz to model the pulse behavior of a dielectric barrier discharge which occurs over a time scale on the order of 200 ns or less. The code simulates multipulse behavior and shows reasonably good agreement with experimental data. The simulations show that the circuit filters out the discharge dynamics and that the pulse width of the discharge current depends on the circuit RC time constant. Using a 123 V sustain voltage, the calculated discharge current is 0.4 A with a full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 28 ns. Experimental values using a 120 V sustain voltage are 0.32 A discharge current and 42 ns FWHM     

Electron transport coefficients in a helium-xenon mixture

Electron drift characteristics in a helium-xenon mixture under an electric field strength E/N = 1 ? 100Td are calculated and analyzed taking into account inelastic collisions. It was shown that a minor xenon additive to helium, beginning with percent fractions, has a significant effect on the discharge, in particular, on the characteristics of inelastic processes. The effect of the percentage of helium and xenon on electron drift, i.e., the diffusion and mobility coefficients, ionization frequency, etc. is studied.     

Ar+ and Xe+ velocities near the presheath-sheath boundary in an Ar/Xe discharge

The velocities of Ar+ and Xe+ ions near the presheath-sheath boundary in an Ar/Xe discharge are studied by particle-in-cell Monte Carlo simulation. For a pure argon discharge the argon ion has almost the same velocity profile as it does in the mixture of argon and xenon. Similarly, for a xenon discharge the xenon ion has almost the same velocity profile as it does in the mixture of argon and xenon. The ion speed at the sheath-presheath boundary is the same for an ion in a pure argon or xenon discharge and for the same ion in a mixture of argon and xenon. We conclude that, in our simulation, each ion reaches its own Bohm speed at the presheath-sheath interface.     

Untersuchungen zu den Existenzbereichen und Typen von ac-Entladungen III. Der Übergang zu reinem Neon und das Bistabilitätsverhalten der einzelnen Typen

The present paper investigates the discharge modes in neon. The Ne-discharge is shown to be sensitively influenced by impurities or small admixtures. If the Ne-filling is not pure enough, pulse mode and continuous mode occur in the same way as in a Ne? N₂ mixture. But below a nitrogen content of 0.01% the shift of the transition frequency between the pulse mode and continuous mode disappears. If the measurements were carried out in pure neon, the non-bistable continuous mode could not be observed, which indicated that the main ionization mechanism, the Penning ionization, had vanished. Instead, in the corresponding parameter range a bistable discharge occurred. This discharge, representing the quasiglow mode, is more intense and the discharge current persists for the whole half cycle. Furthermore, the present paper investigates the wall voltage build up. The charge-transfermethod was extended to the quasiglow mode and the continuous mode. The observed changes in the charge-transfer-curves can be explained by the different discharge mechanisms.     

Discharge ignition phenomena in CO2 and N2O lasers with preliminary filling of the interelectrode gap by electrons

A comprehensive model is presented that describes preionization and discharge ignition processes in large-aperture molecular-gas lasers. By initially filling the interelectrode gap with electrons and establishing a space-charge screen at the cathode, electron avalanche begins adjacent to the anode. Cathode-directed ionization waves develop and ignite the discharge. Dynamic profiling of the electric-field distribution and Penning ionization of a readily ionizable additive combine to decrease both the ignition and quasi-steady-state voltages.     

On the mechanism of the runaway of electrons in a gas: The upper branch of the paschen curve

Basing on the simulation results, it is shown that the Townsend mechanism of electron multiplication in a gas at sufficiently large interelectrode distances is valid at least up to such large values of E/p at which relativistic electrons are generated. Correspondingly, the runaway electron producing in a gas is determined not by the local criteria accepted presently, but by the ratio of interelectrode distance and the characteristic electron multiplication length. It is shown that the critical discharge voltage U, at which the runaway electrons appear in a given gas, is a function of the product of the interelectrode distance by the gas pressure. This function (U-pd dependence) defines not only well-known Paschen curve but also an additional branch, which describes the absence of a self-sustained discharge at a high voltages sufficiently rapidly supplied across the electrodes. Critical discharge voltage dependence for helium and xenon are presented.     

Imaging of a mixture of hyperpolarized 3He and 129Xe

With the use of hyperpolarized gases, a great number of experiments have been carried out in order to improve the diagnostics of the lung, both from a structural and a functional point of view. 3He is best suited for structural studies, whereas 129Xe gives more detailed information about the functionality of the lung because it enters the bloodstream. In this work, we propose the use of a gas mixture to perform consecutive analysis of lung structure and functionality upon the delivery of a single bolus of gas. We show images of a helium-xenon gas mixture in the presence of a small amount of liquid toluene in order to demonstrate how both nuclei can be detected independently, extracting the spectroscopic information provided by the 129Xe spectra and obtaining an image with high sensitivity for 3He. A second experiment performed on a dissected mouse lung was used to demonstrate how the mixture of gases can enhance sensitivity in the larger airways of the lung.     

Prandtl number and thermoacoustic refrigerators

From kinetic gas theory, it is known that the Prandtl number for hard-sphere monatomic gases is 2/3. Lower values can be realized using gas mixtures of heavy and light monatomic gases. Prandtl numbers varying between 0.2 and 0.67 are obtained by using gas mixtures of helium-argon, helium-krypton, and helium-xenon. This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation into the effect of Prandtl number on the performance of a thermoacoustic refrigerator using gas mixtures. The measurements show that the performance of the refrigerator improves as the Prandtl number decreases. The lowest Prandtl number of 0.2, obtained with a mixture containing 30% xenon, leads to a coefficient of performance relative to Carnot which is 70% higher than with pure helium.     

Influence of Gap Spacing between Dielectric Barriers in Atmospheric Pressure Discharges

The breakdown activity in helium atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma is strongly modified by introducing small impurities (nitrogen (N₂) and air in ppm), although its precise implications for the behavior of discharge plasma is not evident under several constraints. In this simulation study, we investigate the influence of gap spacing between the dielectric barriers to explore the dynamic modification in the structure of discharge plasma in distinct phases of the discharge current pulse using a two‐dimensional fluid model in He‐air gas mixture. Specifically, the impact of nitrogen and air impurities is contrasted by exploring the spatial distributions of electrons in the breakdown phase under similar operating conditions. The filamentary mode of DBD plasma in He‐N₂ is transformed into uniform glow discharge in He‐air gas mixture by the dominant effect of Penning ionization. Finally, the outcomes of two‐dimensional fluid model are validated by comparing with three‐dimensional fluid model to provide the reliability of numerical simulations. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Study of the electric field and wall voltage in a high pressure ac-PDP cell by laser induced fluorescence spectroscopy

The electric field in a surface discharge type ac-PDP cell with He or He/Xe(0.1%) mixture has been measured over a wide range of pressure (5－50 kPa) using laser induced fluorescence detection. The wall voltage was estimated from the measured electric field. The Stark manifolds of triplet atomic helium Rydberg state (2s^3S) with principal quantum numbers (n=8 and 9) have been used to measure the electric field, as the lifetime of 2s^3S is longer than the single atomic helium Rydberg state (2s^1S) in high pressure discharge. Comparison of the Stark manifolds between the n=9 and n=8 shows that the measurement accuracy of electric field can be increased by 10%. The maximum electric field strength during discharge and the wall voltage at the end of pulse decreases with the increase of pressure. The comparison of He and He/Xe(0.1%) discharge at 13 kPa showed that He/Xe gas mixture discharge can accumulate more wall charge on MgO surface and the electric field was somewhat higher than those of pure helium discharge during pulse off period under the same discharge conditions.     

Influence of temperature on the ionization coefficient and ignition voltage of the Townsend discharge in an argon–mercury vapor mixture

The kinetics of main types of charged and excited particles present in a low-current discharge in an argon–mercury vapor mixture used in gas-discharge illuminating lamps has been investigated in a wide interval of the reduced electric field strength and temperature. Mechanisms behind the production and loss of ions and metastable atoms have been discovered, and the temperature dependences of their contributions to maintaining their balance have been determined. It has been shown that, when the discharge is initiated in the lamp and the mercury content in the mixture is low, the ionization coefficient exceeds that in pure argon, which is almost exclusively due to the Penning reaction. The influence of this reaction grows with a reduction of the electric field strength in the interelectrode gap. The dependences of the discharge ignition voltage on the interelectrode gap (Paschen curves) for different temperatures of the mixture have been calculated, and the nonmonotonicity of the temperature dependence of the ignition voltage has been explained.     

Electric-discharge He/Xe/I<Subscript>2</Subscript> excimer-halogen UV lamp

The characteristics of a low-size low-pressure UV lamp operating on the atomic iodine resonant line (λ=206 nm) and xenon iodide (λ=253 nm) and dimer iodine (λ=342 nm) bands are investigated. A lamp with an interelectrode distance of 19 cm was pumped by a longitudinal dc glow discharge. The working gas mixtures were He/I₂ and He/Xe/I₂ mixtures with a total pressure of 50–1500 Pa. The output parameters of the electric-discharge excimer-halogen lamp were optimized in terms of the gas mixture pressure and composition and the power deposited in the discharge. It is shown that the total UV power emitted from the entire aperture of the lamp in the spectral range 200–350 nm attains 5–7 W with an efficiency of ≤5%.     

Modelling of the Positive Column in an Argon-Hexamethyl-disiloxane dc Glow Discharge

A model is presented of the positive column of a dc glow discharge in argon with small admixtures of hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDS). The axial electric field, the ion production rates for direct-, stepwise-, pair-, and Penning ionization, the densities of metastable Ar atoms and of electrons, and the wall current of HMDS ions are calculated in dependence on HMDS admixture and discharge current density. For the calculations particle balance equations were used for a diffusion determined plasma in a mixture of two gaseous components. The reaction rates for the electron collision processes were determined applying the electron distribution function calculated for pure argon. Taking into account PENNING ionization of HMDS molecules by metastable argon atoms the decrease of electric field for increasing HMDS admixtures is according to the experimen-tally measured values. Also ion wall currents and electron densities are compared with experimen-tal values for thin film formation rate and results of probe measurements.     

手机锂电池充放电过程的研究

利用COBRA3实验设备测试了锂电池待机充放电过程的电压、电流、锂电池电容量及充电量的变化情况。提出通过实时测量锂电池电压值,可精确换算出锂电池的剩余容量的方法。手机待机充电所需时间和关机充电所需时间基本一致。     

基于反激拓扑与RC隔离触发网络的短弧脉冲氙灯电源设计

针对现有的短弧脉冲氙灯电源存在明显的阻尼振荡等现象,提出了一种基于反激拓扑方法与RC隔离触发网络的短弧脉冲氙灯驱动电源设计。驱动电源采用24 V输入,主电压通过反激拓扑结构产生700～1000 V连续可调输出,脉冲触发电压电路采用二级级联升压电路产生5～7 kV脉冲输出,主电压和脉冲触发电压经过RC隔离触发网络后对脉冲氙灯进行驱动点亮。对驱动电源各个模块进行了设计与实现,将RC隔离触发网络仿真与实际触发波形对比,并比较分析了主电压在不同电压下的充放电波形。实验结果表明,所设计的驱动电源点亮短弧脉冲氙灯的成功率达100%,验证了所设计驱动电源的可行性;所设计的驱动电源充放电总时间最大值为5.63 ms,为短弧脉冲氙灯提供了较高的闪烁频率;所设计的驱动电源与文献对比将阻尼振荡范围从32.24%降低到4.7%,有效抑制了放电产生的阻尼振荡,避免对储能电容造成二次充电,有效提高了储能电容及短弧脉冲氙灯的放电次数及寿命。     

10-2～105 Pa气压范围的氦等离子体光谱分析

采用三种实验装置(介质阻挡放电装置、空心阴极放电装置和彭宁放电装置)分别测量了不同压强范围内氦等离子体的发射光谱.通过对氦等离子体发射光谱的分析,已观察到一个共同的特点,就是在三种放电条件下产生的氦等离子体中31P1→21S0的谱线强度总是最强,可以推测亚稳态氦原子的含量相当显著,但不同的装置也有不同的特点,介质阻挡放电装置能够产生准辉光放电,谱线中氦原子的谱线强度很低,而空心阴极放电与彭宁放电装置能够产生稳定均匀的等离子体,且发射足够强的光辐射.我们已对所拍摄的光谱的谱线都进行了辨认,所有结果表明原子发射光谱分析法是研究不同条件下氦等离子体状态的一种十分有效的手段.     

Optimum conditions for pumping laser transitions of cadmium ions by various processes in a hollow-cathode discharge

The interaction of electrons of various energies with helium and cadmium atoms in a hollow-cathode discharge is analyzed. On the basis of the results of this analysis the conclusion is made that helium is ionized predominantly by electrons moving from the cathode wall to the cavity axis and having energies 70<ε<300 eV, whereas helium and cadmium are ionized predominantly by electrons with energies 9<ε<70 eV which move chaotically. For each of these energy ranges, the kinetic equation is solved and the electron energy distribution function (EDF) is determined, which is used for calculating pumping rates for laser transitions of cadmium ions. The conclusion is made that the rate of population of laser transitions through charge transfer is determined by electrons having a predominant direction of motion and an anisotropic EDF. The population rate associated with electron impact and the Penning ionization is determined by electrons moving chaotically and having an isotropic EDF. The analysis of the EDF made it possible to explain differences in discharge conditions (helium and cadmium pressures) providing optimum lasing for lines pumped by different processes. Radial profiles of pump rates obtained from the analysis made it possible to calculate and explain the dependence of the laser output power on the cathode diameter.     

Perspectives on the electrically induced properties of electrospun cellulose/liquid crystal devices

A mat of electrospun cellulose fibers are deposed on transparent conductive oxide covered glass, and two such plates enclose a nematic liquid crystal. Thus two new types of Cellulose based Polymer Dispersed Liquid Crystal devices, based on hydroxypropylcellulose and Cellulose Acetate and the nematic liquid crystal E7 have been obtained. The current–voltage characteristics indicates ionic type conduction. Heating–cooling cycles have been applied on the samples and the activation energies have been determined. Simultaneously with the thermo-stimulated currents, the optical transmission dependence on the d.c. electric field and temperature was registered. ON–OFF switching times have been determined for different control voltages.