Timing Control of Self-organized Dielectric Barrier Discharge and Influence of Discharge Driving Frequency

The two-dimensional array of filaments generated by the self-organizing of atmospheric dielectric-barrier discharges has plasma photonic crystal applications. The net generation time for the self-organization of discharge in one cycle is expected to be short because of its self-extinguishing feature, but that did not happen. However, we attempted to shorten the net generation time by implementing a time difference to drive the parallel array discharge units. The timing of the voltage applied to the discharge cells was controlled by the metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect-transistors of the circuits, which were turned on by a signal from a single peripheral interface controller. The resultant duty cycles of the discharge current duration per cycle were 6{\%} (single cell), 12{\%} (two parallel cells), and 27{\%} (three parallel cells). When the frequency was changed from 100 to 300 kHz, the generation time increased from 0.61 to 0.72 $\mu $s (100 kHz), 0.91 to 1.23 $\mu $s (200 kHz), and 1.54 to 1.91 $\mu $s (300 kHz). According to these results, frequency and maintenance time are proportional.