Oscillations of low-current electrical discharges between parallel-plane electrodes. II. Pulsed discharges inH2

The cathode-fall of low-pressure hydrogen discharges: Absolute spectral emission and model

“…16,20 Of particular interest for present purposes are studies of the distribution of the electric field in the cathode fall of hydrogen discharges represented by Güntherschulze, 11 Warren, 12 Hantzsche, 16 Bederlow, 29 Renner et al, 17 Ganguly and Garscadden, 22 Barbeau and Jolly, 30 Czarnetzki et al, 27 Cvetanović et al, 26 and Pérez et al 31 The importance of diffuse reflection at the cathode of fast ions and neutral species as fast H atoms for low current H 2 discharges was shown by Petrović et al 2,7 and applied to models of glow discharges in H 2 by Cvetanović et al 26 and Phelps. 10 The stability of cathode fall dominated discharges in H 2 has been investigated experimentally and theoretically [3][4][5] for conditions similar to those of this paper.…”

“…The optical measurements at the higher currents are made using the pulsed dc discharge described previously 1,4 so as to reduce gas and electrode heating and the unmeasured atomic hydrogen build up. The high voltage pulses are superimposed on the small dc voltage used to drive a sustaining current through the discharge.…”

“…The high voltage pulses are superimposed on the small dc voltage used to drive a sustaining current through the discharge. 4 The duration of the pulse is typically 50 ls and the repetition rate is 3 Hz. When the high voltage pulse is applied, the discharge current increases from about 20 lA to 50-300 mA for $1 ls and then decreases to the desired quasi-steady-state value.…”

“…The early experimental and theoretical investigations of steady-state discharges are represented by the work of Güntherschulze, 11 Warren, 12 Neu,13 McClure, 14 Nahemow and coworkers, 15 Hansche and Wieczorek, 16 Frank and coworkers, 17 Schlumbohm, 18 Volkov, 19 and Emeleus and Coulter. 20 More recent work includes that by Dexter et al, 21 Ganguly and Garscadden, 22 Heim and Störi, 23 Konovalov et al, 24 Phelps and coworkers, [3][4][5] Konjević and coworkers, 25,26 Czarnetzki et al, 27 and Phelps. 10 The early papers have shown a small temperature rise of the H 2 gas for moderate current densities because most of the input energy is delivered to the cathode by fast ions and by fast neutral atoms and molecules produced by charge transfer collisions of fast ions.…”

Fundamental Study and Development of Oscillating Plasma Glow Discharge GC Detectors

“…Recently, these oscillations have been investigated by Petrovic and Phelps (2)(3)(4), who show that the frequency of the oscillations varies approximately as the square root of the discharge current and the damping of the oscillations increases with the discharge current. These oscillations may be the result of contributions of excess charged particles to the electric field which are large enough to cause oscillations in the current and voltage, but are small enough so that the electric field in the discharge region is approximately uniform.…”