Measurements of the electron density and collision frequency of a one atmosphere uniform glow discharge plasma (OAUGDP/spl trade/) generated in a parallel plate reactor

Summary form only given, as follows. The One Atmosphere Uniform Glow Discharge Plasma (OAUGDP/spl trade/) is capable of operating at one atmosphere in air and other gases. The applications of OAUGDP/spl trade/ include surface sterilization and decontamination, plasma etching at one atmosphere, and aerodynamic flow control. The OAUGDP/spl trade/ can be produced in a wide range of geometrical configurations, ranging from slab plasma between parallel plates to surface plasma that can cover a flat or curved surface. We introduce a new and simple diagnostic technique to measure the electron number density and the collision frequency of the OAUGDP/spl trade/ in a quantitative and non-perturbing way. The key idea is using a microwave network analyzer to simultaneously measure the attenuation and the phase shift of a microwave signal when the signal propagates through the plasma.