Microwave Production of Steady State Large Volume Air Plasmas

Abstract

Air plasmas can be created and sustained at atmospheric pressure at power levels of approximately 1kW/ cc, (1MW/cu m) and these plasmas persist for hundreds of milliseconds after power is turned off. These plasmas can be made in an inexpensive and easy to build apparatus based around a microwave oven operating at approximately 1kW and 2.45GHz. These room air plasmas can also be made on large scale, using industrial microwaves at 915MHz at 30-75kW in an approximately 1/2 cubic meter nonresonant chamber. The plasmas in both cases appear to have electron densities of 10(exp 12)-10(exp 13) electrons per cubic centimeter and a gas temperature of 4000-5000K. Metastable molecular states may play a role in this phenomenon.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 14, 1999
Accession Number
ADA366041

Entities

People

  • John E. Brandenburg
  • John F. Kline
  • Vinvent R. Dipietro

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics
  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Barometric Pressure
  • Cameras
  • Carbon Monoxide
  • Cavity Resonators
  • Conductivity
  • Electron Density
  • Electrons
  • Glow Discharges
  • Ignition
  • Measurement
  • Microwave Ovens
  • Production
  • Radiation
  • Radio Frequency Power
  • Spectra
  • Steady State
  • Video Cameras

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Molecular Photonics/Laser Physics
  • Pulsed Power and Plasma Physics.

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics