We have studied the effects of air nonthermal plasma irradiation of seeds of Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) on their growth from the beginning of cultivation to their harvest. Three minute plasma irradiation of dry seeds resulted in growth acceleration in all the growth stages. Compared with the control, the plasma irradiation led to an 11% shorter harvest period, a 56% increase in total seed weight, a 12% increase in each seed weight, and a 39% increase in seed number.
The sterilization of medical equipment was performed using low-pressure RF discharge plasma. Oxygen radicals as oxidizing materials for sterilization were produced from oxygen or water vapor. The generation of atomic oxygen and OH radicals was confirmed using the light emission spectra of the plasma. The pressure in the discharge region was varied periodically during inactivation in order to produce radicals effectively and to penetrate the produced radicals into tiny gaps. Medium sheets for microbial detection indicated that the decimal reduction value of active bacillus was 5 and 8 min using oxygen plasma and water vapor plasma with n
e=109 cm-3, respectively. Biological indicators clarified that the sterilization of bacilli spores was successful for a treatment time of 90 min.
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