Spatial-Temporal Patterns in a Dielectric Barrier Discharge under Narrow Boundary Conditions in Argon at Atmospheric Pressure

Pattern formation phenomena are investigated in a dielectric barrier discharge under narrow boundary conditions in argon at atmospheric pressure. The discharge shows various scenarios with the increasing applied voltage. This is the first observation of alternating single spot and pair spots pattern and of a moving striation pattern in a dielectric barrier discharge system. The spatial-temporal correlations between discharge filaments in these patterns are measured by an optical method. The results show that the zigzag pattern is an interleaving of two sub-structure patterns, which ignites once for each sub-pattern per half cycle of the applied voltage. There is a temporal sequence inversion in consecutive half-cycles for the two sub-patterns. The pattern of alternating single spot and pair spots is also an interleaving of two sub-structure patterns. However, the pair spots sub-pattern ignites twice and the single spot sub-pattern ignites once per half cycle of the applied voltage.