Eur. Phys. J. D 60, 565-574 (2010)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2010-00273-6

Experimental study and simulation of a micro-discharge with limited cathode area

¹ University of Orleans, GREMI, 45067 Orléans, France
² The University of Texas at Dallas, 800 W. Campbell Road, Richardson, Texas, 75080-3021, USA
³ University of Toulouse and CNRS, LAPLACE (Laboratoire Plasma et Conversion d'Énergie), 118 route de Narbonne, 31062 Toulouse Cedex 9, France
⁴ Université Joseph Fourier, Laboratoire LSP, Grenoble, France

Corresponding author: ^a thierry.dufour.fr@gmail.com

Received: 29 May 2010
Revised: 5 August 2010
Published online: 29 October 2010

Abstract

We report in this paper simulation results and experimental measurements to characterize a micro-discharge generated in a single micro cavity device operating in helium. By spatially limiting the cathode surface area using a dielectric layer, we demonstrate the ability of the micro-discharge to work in a steady-state abnormal glow regime. The physical properties of this regime are discussed.