From Repeatability to Self-Organization of Guided Streamers Propagating in a Jet of Cold Plasma

Abstract

In this work, a jet of cold plasma is generated in a device supplied in helium and powered with a high-voltage nanopulse power supply, hence generating guided streamers. We focus on the interaction between these guided streamers and two targets placed in a series: a metal mesh target (MM) at floating potential followed by a metal plate target (MP) grounded by a 1500 Ω resistor. We demonstrate that such an experimental setup allows to shift from a physics of streamer repeatability to a physics of streamer self-organization, i.e., from the repetition of guided streamers that exhibit fixed spatiotemporal constants to the emergence of self-organized guided streamers, each of which is generated on the rising edge of a high-voltage pulse. Up to five positive guided streamers can be self-organized one after the other, all distinct in space and time. While self-organization occurs in the capillary and up to the MM target, we also demonstrate the existence of transient emissive phenomena in the inter-target region, especially a filamentary discharge whose generation is directly correlated with complexity order Ω. The mechanisms of the self-organized guided streamers are deciphered by correlating their optical and electrical properties measured by fast ICCD camera and current-voltage probes, respectively. For the sake of clarity, special attention is paid to the case where three self-organized guided streamers (α, β and γ) propagate at vα = 75.7 km·s–1, vβ = 66.5 km·s–1 and vγ = 58.2 km·s–1), before being accelerated in the vicinity of the MM target.

Estimation of total forces of jets on liquid interfaces using image processing methods

“…Plasma phenomena, e.g. plasma bubbles and streamers under a liquid [30][31][32][33], liquid droplets [34], and plasma patterns [35], lie alongside the plasma-liquid interface [36][37][38][39]. Optical imaging is a fundamental tool in the diagnostics of plasmas.…”