Spectroscopic investigations of a dielectric-surface-discharge plasma source

Spectroscopic investigations of the properties of a plasma produced by a fl ashboard plasma source, commonly used in pulsed plasma experiments, are pre sented. The plasma is used to prefill a planar 0.4 mu s conduction time pla sma opening switch (POS). A novel gas-doping technique and a secondary surf ace flashover plasma source are used to locally dope the plasma with gaseou s and solid materials, respectively, allowing for spatially resolved measur ements. The electron density, temperature, and plasma composition are deter mined from spectral line intensities and line profiles. Detailed collisiona l-radiative modeling is used to analyze the observed line intensities. The propagation velocity and divergence angle of various ions are determined fr om time-of-flight measurements and Doppler broadening of spectral lines, re spectively. This allows for distinguishing the secondary plasma ejected fro m the POS electrodes from the plasma of the flashboard source. (C) 2000 Ame rican Institute of Physics. [S1070-664X(00)00109-9].