Optical and electrical characteristics of N$_{2}$ micro-discharges produced in coplanar surface DBD geometry

Basic optical and electrical characteristics of nitrogen micro-discharges generated in an AC surface DBD reactor with coplanar electrode arrangement were studied at atmospheric pressure by means of the ICCD microscopy and spectrometry complemented with the multi-channel photon-counting. Temporal evolutions of N$_{2}$-2.PG (second positive), N$_{2}$-HIR (Hermann infrared), NO-gamma and N$_{2}^{+}$-1.NG (first negative) bands induced by an individual H-shaped micro-discharge generated during positive/negative AC half-cycle were acquired and analyzed. Typical emission waveforms were inspected as function of both frequency and amplitude of the modulated AC driving high-voltage, in the case of a) a single micro-discharge produced during an AC half-cycle and b) multiple, equally spaced micro-discharges produced during an AC half-cycle. Observed waveforms and obtained characteristic time constants will be discussed in the frame of electron impact excitation/ionization, N$_{2}$(A)+N$_{2}$(A) energy pooling and N$_{2}$(A)+NO resonant energy transfer processes.