Self-organized quasiparticles and other patterns in planar gas-discharge systems

A summary is given for the work that has been done on pattern formation in planar ac- and dc- gas-discharge systems with high ohmic and dielectric barrier respectively at the Institute of Applied Physics at the University of Muenster. WeIl defined stationary and moving solitary filaments are observed that may be referred to as selforganized quasiparticles. Among others, filaments can be scattered, generated, or annihilated, and the formation of filament clusters ("molecules") is observed. For appropriate parameters filaments in the "gaseous" phase are observed, and the condensation of large assemblies to "crystalline" phase and "liquid" phase is recorded, too. Filaments may generate superstructures e.g. domain patterns. The experimental work demonstrates that a filament is a generic pattern. In addition, reference is made to non-filamentary patterns. Finally, a list of references referring to models and numerical treatment is presented