Micro hollow cathode discharges (MHCD) were produced using 250 m thick dielectric layer of alumina sandwiched between two nickel electrodes of 8 m thickness. A through cavity at the center of the chip was formed by laser drilling technique. MHCD with a diameter of few hundreds of micrometers allowed us to generate direct current discharges in helium at up to atmospheric pressure. A slowly varying ramped voltage generator was used to study the ignition and the extinction periods of the microdischarges. The analysis was performed by using electrical characterisation of the V-I behaviour and the measurement of He*(3S1) metastable atoms density by tunable diode laser spectroscopy. At the ignition of the microdischarges, 2 s long current peak as high as 24 mA was observed, sometimes followed by low amplitude damped oscillations. At helium pressure above 400 Torr, an oscillatory behaviour of the discharge current was observed just before the extinction of the microdischarges. The same type of instability in the extinction period at high pressure also appeared on the density of He*(3S1) metastable atoms, but delayed by a few s relative to the current oscillations. Metastable atoms thus cannot be at the origin of the generation of the observed instabilities.
A new approach for solving the problem of creation of inverse electron distribution function and practical recommendations for experimental searches for such media in glow discharges with hollow and flat cathodes
Proof of operation of a micro-hollow cathode discharge driven by a true ns-pulsed high voltage: emission properties and atomic nitrogen production
Laboratoire des Sciences des Procédés et des Matériaux (LSPM), CNRS, Université Sorbonne Paris Nord（材料过程与科学实验室，法国国家科学研究中心，索邦巴黎北大学）；Laboratoire Energétique Moléculaire et Macroscopique, Combustion (EM2C), CNRS, Université Paris Saclay（分子与宏观能量、燃烧实验室，法国国家科学研究中心，巴黎萨克雷大学）
