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A two-dimensional discharge model is described and applied to a transverse discharge-excited xenon chloride (XeCl) excimer laser. Electron discharge instabilities in the XeCl laser are investigated. An overview of the mechanisms of XeCl lasers is given while details of the five submodels of the discharge model are described and unified for further clarification. Three electrode configurations and their electric field distribution profiles are evaluated and compared. XeCl laser operations with pulses of 200 nanosecond duration and longer are investigated for output relation to electrode design and choice of field profile.

The here presented work studies the dynamics of filaments using 3D fluid simulations in the presence of detached background profiles. It was found that evolving the neutrals on the time-scale of the filament did not have a significant impact on the dynamics of the filament. In general a decreasing filament velocity with increasing plasma background density has been observed, with the exception of detachment onset, where a temporarily increase in radial velocity occurs. The decreasing trend with temporary increase was found for filaments around the critical size and larger, while smaller filaments where less affected by detachment. With detachment the critical filament size increased, as larger filaments were faster in detached conditions. This breaks the trend of attached conditions, where the critical size decreases with increasing density. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inductively coupled discharges were examined for anomalous skin effect and collisionless power dissipation.

Examines the relationship between preionization density distribution, electrode design and efficiency in high pressure discharge-excited gas lasers. Excitation of the laser by a spiker-sustained type circuit; Reduction of the device efficiency by preionization straying outside the active volume; Effect of wide smoothly contoured electrodes on the laser.

Examines the measured and simulated electron energy distribution functions in a low-pressure radio frequency discharge in argon. Use of a Langmuir probe system; Transition from a stochastic to an ohmic electron heating mode; Determination of characteristic scales by the electron plasma frequency.

Abstract: This paper is concerned with a dynamical systems analysis of an instability occurring in a cylindrical high frequency plasma discharge. Stationary, spatially periodic modulations of the plasma density and temperature have been observed in experiments and reproduced in kinetic simulations. A macroscopic model is proposed in order to determine parameter ranges for which these plasma “striations” may form. The model consists of two nonlinear, coupled partial differential equations which describe ambipolar diffusion of electrons and ions and electron energy transport. We emphasize the importance of a particular thermoelectric transport coefficient, usually neglected in fluid models of plasma discharges, which proves essential in describing the pattern formation mechanism. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]