Micro-measurement of Plasma Near the Dielectric Surface in a Barrier Discharge

Abstract

The lifetime of metastable excited atoms for barrier discharges in a glass cell and plasma display panel (PDP) has been measured by an laser induced evanescent-mode fluorescence (LIEF) and compared with values measured in a bulk plasma. No significant differece between lifetimes of metastables in the vicinity of a wall and in a bulk plasma is found. An additional optical technique using pockels effect of an electro-optic crystal is introduced in order to observe a temporal and spatial behavior of a wall voltage due to charges accumulated on a dielectric surface.