Wave propagation and diagnostics in argon surface-wave discharges up to 100 Torr

Abstract

Deals with the study of argon surface-wave produced discharges as the effective collision frequency nu becomes larger than the excitation pulsation omega (either at low frequency or at high pressure). Both conditions have been studied in the experiment reported. Discharges have been produced in the 1-100 Torr range in capillary tubes with 210 MHz and 2450 MHz excitation frequency. First, the set of Maxwell equations and boundary conditions is solved taking into account the attenuation due to collisions. Then the nu / omega influence is discussed. Secondly a diagnostic method providing the axial density profile n_e(z) and the collision frequency nu is reported. Finally the authors find scaling laws for these discharges.