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Using tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy, the spatio-temporal distributions of the helium He(23S1) metastable atoms’ density were measured in a plasma jet propagating in ambient air. The plasma jet was produced by applying short duration high voltage pulses on the electrodes of a DBD-like structure, at a repetition rate in the range 1–30 kHz. In addition to the metastable density, the spatial distribution of helium 587 nm emission intensity was also investigated to give insight into the excitation mechanisms of the He(33D) excited state inside the dielectric tube, in which no laser measurement can be performed. It is demonstrated that the shape of the radial distribution of helium He(23S1) metastable atoms strongly depends on the polarity of the applied voltage and on the repetition frequency. For positive applied voltages, a dramatic constriction of the excited species production is observed whenever the pulse repetition frequency is higher than 6 kHz, and the voltage higher than 5 kV. This shrinking of the jet structure induces an increase by one order of magnitude of the metastable atoms’ density in the jet centre which reaches values as high as 1014 cm−3. Beyond a critical distance, associated to a transition between a positive streamer and a negative one, the distribution of the excited atoms gets back to an annular structure. For the negative polarity, no shrinking effect correlated to the pulse repetition frequency was observed. The on-axis constriction of the excited species for the high repetition rate and positive polarity is attributed to a memory effect induced by the negative ions, having a lifetime of hundreds of microseconds, left between successive pulses at the periphery of the helium gas flow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]