Atmospheric pressure plasma jet in Ar and Ar/H2O mixtures: Optical emission spectroscopy and temperature measurements

An atmospheric pressure plasma jet generated in Ar/water vapor mixtures has been investigated and the effect of water content on plasma properties has been studied. Plasma generated in Ar/water (0.05%) mixture shows higher intensity of OH radicals in emission spectra than pure argon alone. Plasma density has been estimated from current measurement and is in order of 1.5 x 10(13) cm(-3). Electron temperature has been estimated as 0.97 eV in pure Ar and it decreases with an increase in water content in plasma. The gas temperature has been determined by fitting of the experimental spectra and using the Boltzmann plot method. The gas temperature increases with the addition of water to feed gas from 620 K in pure Ar up to 1130 K for 0.76% H2O. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3439685]