Discharge Characteristics of Atmospheric Pressure Ar/N₂/O₂ a Plasma Jet under a Square Wave Pulse

Plasma jets have broad application in the fields of sterilization and material processing. In recent years, studies have shown that adding a small amount of active gas into a single inert gas can change the distribution of active particles in the plasma. This not only produces the desired active species but also changes the length of the jet to make it more suitable for plasma applications. In this article, the characteristics of plasma jets were studied under an argon atmosphere with a small amount of nitrogen and oxygen. By measuring the voltage and current waveforms, luminescence images, and emission spectra under the three mixed gases, the main parameters such as discharge power, the three main particle emission spectrum intensities (the OH spectral line, the second positive band of nitrogen molecules and its diffraction band, argon atomic line), electron excitation temperature, molecular vibration temperature, and molecular rotation temperature are calculated. The results show two discharges in one cycle under the square wave pulse voltage. The addition of nitrogen and oxygen reduces the peak current of the Ar plasma jet but increases the power. The addition of N2 increases and stabilizes the length of the jet, while oxygen decreases the length. The spectral line intensities of OH and Ar atoms decrease with the increase in N2 doping concentration, while the spectral line intensity of nitrogen gas increases. The addition of oxygen reduces the intensity of all the three emission spectra. The electron excitation temperature is the highest in the mixed gas (Ar/N2/O2) and the lowest in pure argon. In the mixed gas (Ar/N2), the vibration temperature and rotation temperature are basically unchanged. After the addition of oxygen, the vibration temperature remained unchanged, but the rotation temperature increased slightly.