Poling of Glasses Using Resistive Barrier Discharge Plasma

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Plasma Physics
• Nonlinear Optics

Background:

• Glass poling is crucial for creating nonlinear optical materials.
• Traditional poling methods often require high temperatures or vacuum conditions.
• Developing efficient, ambient-condition poling techniques is an ongoing challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a novel technique for poling glasses using atmospheric resistive barrier discharge plasma.
• To investigate the mechanism of poling induced by plasma discharge.
• To determine the ionic mobilities in poled glass.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a resistive barrier discharge plasma in atmospheric conditions with a gap of hundreds of microns.
• Measured polarization current, second harmonic generation, and IR spectra of poled soda-lime glass.
• Developed a simple poling model based on Ohm's law.

Main Results:

• Efficient glass poling was achieved at voltages sufficient to ignite plasma discharge.
• Poling effect was negligible at lower voltages, attributed to plasma-generated hydrogen/hydronium ions.
• Estimated mobilities of hydrogen/hydronium ions (μH) and sodium ions (μNa) in glass.

Conclusions:

• Atmospheric plasma discharge is an effective method for poling soda-lime glass.
• The poling mechanism involves the penetration of plasma-generated ions into the glass.
• The estimated ion mobilities align with existing literature values, validating the technique and model.