Alpha Discharge Electron Concentration and Ionization Rate Effect on Spatial Intensity Variation between the All-Metal Slab Waveguide Electrodes of CO2 Laser

The steady and uniform Alpha discharge phenomenon between all metal slab waveguide were clearly recorded with Nikon camera, the variation of the luminous intensity was firstly analyzed and studied for the Alpha discharge experiment, in which the discharge is taking place between the parallel all metal plate electrodes with the two bright glows, the visible emission intensity is greatest near the parallel electrodes. The electron concentration and ionization rate in a parallel all metal slab waveguide plane discharge was calculated, the result shows ionization rate has the symmetrical sharp in the radio frequency (RF) exited discharge regions. The visible emission intensity of the bright striations was proportional to the distribution of ionization rate. The dark strips near each all-metal slab waveguide electrode boundary, as a consequence of the low electron concentration that exists in the discharge region.