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Updated: Jul 7, 2026

An Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Setup to Investigate the Reactive Species Formation
Published on: November 3, 2016
Study of pulsed electron cyclotron resonance ion source plasma near breakdown: the preglow
T Thuillier1, T Lamy, L Latrasse
1Laboratoire de Physique Subatomique et de Cosmologie, Université Joseph Fourier Grenoble 1, CNRS/IN2P3, Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble, Grenoble, France. thomas.thuillier@lpsc.in2p3.fr
Abstract:
A careful study of pulsed mode operation of the PHOENIX electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) ion source has clearly demonstrated the reality of an unexpected transient current peak, occurring at the very beginning of the plasma breakdown. This regime was named the preglow, as an explicit reference to the afterglow occurring at the microwave pulse end. After the transient preglow peak, the plasma regime relaxes to the classical steady state one. Argon preglow experiments performed at LPSC are presented. A theoretical model of ECR gas breakdown in a magnetic trap, developed at IAP, showing satisfactory agreement with the experimental results is suggested.
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