Characterizing uniform discharge in atmospheric helium by numerical modelling

One-dimensional fluid model of dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) inhelium at atmospheric pressure was established and the discharge wasnumerically simulated. It was found that not only the spatialdistributions of the internal parameters such as the electric field,the electron density and ion density are similar to those in alow-pressure glow discharge, but also the visually apparentattribute (light emission) is exactly the same as the observablefeature of a low-pressure glow discharge. This confirms that theuniform DBD in atmospheric helium is a glow type discharge. The factthat the thickness of the cathode fall layer is about 0.5mm, muchlonger than that of a normal glow discharge in helium at atmosphericpressure, indicates the discharge being a sub-normal glow dischargeclose to normal one. The multipulse phenomenon was reproduced in thesimulation and a much less complicated explanation for thisphenomenon was given.