Influence of a Nitrogen Admixture on the Anomalous Memory Effect in the Breakdown of Low-Pressure Argon in a Long Discharge Tube

• Published in: Plasma physics reports Vol. 44; no. 3; pp. 334 - 344
• Main Authors: Dyatko, N. A., Ionikh, Yu. Z., Meshchanov, A. V., Napartovich, A. P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Moscow Pleiades Publishing 01-03-2018; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: AFTERGLOW; ARGON; Atomic; BREAKDOWN; CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; Decay rate; ELECTRIC POTENTIAL; Gas discharge tubes; Low-Temperature Plasma; Molecular; NITROGEN; Optical and Plasma Physics; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Polarity; Shape memory; Voltage pulses
• ISSN: 1063-780X; 1562-6938
• DOI: 10.1134/S1063780X18030017

The memory effect (the dependence of the dynamic breakdown voltage
U
b
on the time interval τ between voltage pulses) in pulse-periodic discharges in pure argon and the Ar + 1%N
2
mixture was studied experimentally. The discharge was ignited in a 2.8-cm-diameter tube with an interelectrode distance of 75 cm. The measurements were performed at gas pressures of
P
= 1, 2, and 5 Torr and discharge currents in a steady stage of the discharge of
I
= 20 and 56 mA. Breakdown was produced by applying positive-polarity voltage pulses, the time interval between pulses being in the range of τ = 0.5–40 ms. In this range of τ values, a local maximum (the anomalous memory effect) was observed in the dependence
U
b
(τ). It is shown that addition of nitrogen to argon substantially narrows the range of τ values at which this effect takes place. To analyze the measurement results, the plasma parameters in a steady-state discharge (in both pure argon and the Ar + 1%N
2
mixture) and its afterglow were calculated for the given experimental conditions. Analysis of the experimental data shows that the influence of the nitrogen admixture on the shape of the dependence
U
b
(τ) is, to a large extent, caused by the change in the decay rate of the argon afterglow plasma in the presence of a nitrogen admixture.