Nonequilibrium plasma jet using a combination of an orifice and applied magnetic field

Abstract

A new type of plasma jet generator using a combination of an orifice and applied magnetic field was developed in this work. Observation of the plasma jet and measurements of the degree of dissociation by emission spectroscopy revealed that the combination of an orifice and applied magnetic field generated a nonequilibrium plasma jet that was far superior in terms of a longer length of the plasma jet and a higher degree of dissociation to a plasma jet generated using only an orifice, using only an applied magnetic field, or using neither. This remarkable improvement is apparently due to an increase in the electron number density, which can be reasonably explained by a simple model.