Radiofrequency sustainment of a laser-produced plasma

Summary form only given, as follows. The plasma is generated by photoionization of the organic seed molecule tetrakis(dimethylamino)ethylene (TMAE) and is sustained by RF coupling through the use of an antenna. Both highly collisional ohmic heating, and collisionless Landau wave absorption are studied as various neutral gas pressures are varied over several orders of magnitude. A multiple turn helical coil is utilized to maintain the discharge and a strong magnetic field is introduced to enhance field penetration. A strong magnetic field gradient is used to help initiate the discharge. Plasma densities of the order 10/sup 13/ cm/sup -3/ are obtained in a 2.5 cm radius tube. The computer codes ANTENA2 and MAXEB are used to help model the results. Non linear effects of collisionless damping and plasma creation are investigated. TMAE gas is being investigated as a possible seed gas for initiating atmospheric air plasmas because the plasma can be initiated with such a high initial condition.