Latest advances in development of a hybrid RF/DC plasma jet generator of O₂(¹Δ) for a discharge oxygen-iodine laser are presented. This novel apparatus is based on a fast mixing of hybrid Ar+He plasma jet of DC electric arc sustained by an RF discharge with an injected neutral O₂+He+NO stream. Calculations of singlet oxygen yield have shown that only non-equilibrium plasma with a high content of heated electrons (~3 eV) and a gas temperature of ~2500 K appears to be promising for an achievable yield of singlet oxygen up to ~42 %. A stable high-pressure hybrid RF/DC plasmatron with a diffusive arc mode near the anode side (assisted by a plasma anode) was demonstrated experimentally in the mixture Ar:He = ~9.84:5 mmol/s at a power level of 610 W (RF power 490 W and DC arc power 120 W) and at a pressure of 165 Torr. The specific energy of the plasma jet was 41 J/mmol. A generation of singlet oxygen was performed by a laterally symmetric injection of neutral mixture O₂:He:NO = 1.5:2.44:0.22 mmol/s into the plasma jet of the hybrid RF/DC plasmatron. The estimated yield of singlet oxygen O₂(¹Δ) was ~5 % at a pressure of 10.5 Torr.

Date Published: 15 November 2010
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 7751, XVIII International Symposium on Gas Flow, Chemical Lasers, and High-Power Lasers, 77510G (15 November 2010);

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7751:
XVIII International Symposium on Gas Flow, Chemical Lasers, and High-Power Lasers
Tanja Dreischuh; Petar A. Atanasov; Nikola V. Sabotinov, Editor(s)