Investigations of an atmospheric pressure plasma jet by optical emission spectroscopy

A plasma jet, which works under atmospheric pressure, has been developed for surface treatment. The plasma stream is generated with a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) and a process gas of Ar flowing out into the environmental air. The DBD plasma jet features a cold gas temperature. Furthermore, the plasma stream is harmless for humans because of its low voltage. In order to characterize the plasma jet, its electron temperature and its composition have been determined by means of optical emissions spectroscopy. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.