Atmospheric Pressure Dielectric Barrier Discharges Under Unipolar and Bipolar HV Excitation in View of Chemical Reactivity in Afterglow Conditions

This paper deals with atmospheric pressure DBDs driven under unipolar and bipolar pulsed excitation, in a context of chemical reactivity in flowing afterglow conditions. The resulting discharges in air and nitrogen are examined via electrical and optical diagnostics. Then, their yield in the production of active species (ozone for the air afterglow-atomic Nitrogen and N₂(A) metastables for the N₂ afterglow) is compared. An effort is made to illustrate the key discharge parameters that are likely to influence the concentrations of neutral active species in afterglow conditions.