Direct measurement of electron density in microdischarge at atmospheric pressure by Stark broadening.

We present a method and results for measurement of electron density in atmospheric-pressure dielectric barrier discharge. The electron density of microdischarge in atmospheric pressure argon is measured by using the spectral line profile method. The asymmetrical deconvolution is used to obtain Stark broadening. The results show that the electron density in single filamentary microdischarge at atmospheric pressure argon is 3.05×1015 cm-3 if the electron temperature is 10 000 K. The result is in good agreement with the simulation. The electron density in dielectric barrier discharge increases with the increase of applied voltage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]