Spatiotemporal characteristics of a patterned dielectric barrier discharge controlled by various mechanisms

In this paper, we present a comprehensive discussion on various mechanisms collectively controlling the spatiotemporal characteristics of a patterned dielectric barrier discharge. High-speed images correlated with current pulse phases show that the square pattern is composed of two interleaving square sublattices with a time-reversal symmetric discharge order, whose spatial and temporal stabilities are explained by surface-charge-induced activation-inhibition mechanism. Images of 100 ns order demonstrate the localized synchronicity of the development of one single sublattice, which may be attributed to photo-ionization. Through the investigation of light emissions of the two sublattices, a surface-charge sharing mechanism is proposed, which is also responsible for the stability of the patterned discharge.