A Planar Source of Atmospheric-Pressure Plasma Jet

Abstract

In a single-barrier discharge with voltage sharpening and low gas consumption (up to 1 L/min), plane atmospheric pressure plasma jets with a width of up to 3 cm and length of up to 4 cm in air are formed in the slit geometry of the discharge zone. The energy, temperature, and spectral characteristics of the obtained jets have been measured. The radiation spectrum contains intense maxima corresponding to vibrational transitions of the second positive system of molecular nitrogen N₂ (C³Π_u → B³Π_g) and comparatively weak transition lines of the first positive system of the N₂⁺ ion (B²Σ_u⁺ → X²Σ_g). By an example of inactivation of the Staphylococcus aureus culture (strain ATCC 209), it is shown that plasma is a source of chemically active particles providing the inactivation of microorganisms.