One-dimensional simulation of low pressure xenon dielectric barrier discharge

A self-consistent one-dimensional fluid coupled model is built to describe the low pressure xenon dielectric barrier discharge (DBD). And the finite-element method is employed to investigate gas voltages, discharge currents and the time evolutions of surface charges on dielectric barrier under different applied voltage amplitudes and frequencies. The spatial and temporal distributions of electrons, ions, excited, resonance, metastable particles and spatial electrical field are also achieved. The simulation results show that the surface charges accumulated on the dielectric barriers play a key role in the ignition and the extinguishment of the discharge. And based on the variation of gas voltage, the surface charging can be divided into six stages in one discharge cycle. With the increase of applied voltage amplitude, the gas gap breakdown moves ahead of the zero-crossing point of applied voltage gradually, and the discharge becomes more and more intense. Furthermore, with the increase of applied voltage frequency, the gas voltage decreases gradually, gas gap tends to breakdown, and discharge becomes uniform. Finally, spatiotemporal distributions of particles and electric field indicate that the xenon DBD is a typical glow discharge.