Modelling of atmospheric pressure argon plasmas: application to capacitive RF and surface microwave discharges

This work is focused on modelling of atmospheric pressure high frequency (HF) discharges operated at relatively low power densities. Two types of devices are considered – the radio frequency capacitively coupled atmospheric pressure plasma jet and the microwave discharge sustained by surface electromagnetic waves. They are addresses as the plasma shower and the surface-wave discharge (SWD). Both of the considered devices operate in argon at atmospheric pressure (p = 1 bar). However, the difference in the frequency of the power coupling mechanism induces a big difference in plasma properties. This implies also that different modelling approaches have to be employed.Doctorat en Sciences de l'ingénieur