Nonuniform gas discharge plasma

Formation mechanisms for spatially nonuniform temperature and charged particle density distributions in a low-temperature gas discharge plasma are reviewed. Conditions for the occurrence of, and parameter distributions in, the constricted state of the discharge are analyzed. Spatial temperature and electron density distributions and the pressure and power-input dependence of the plasma column radius are determined in local thermodynamic equilibrium. Special attention is given to a cluster-containing plasma. For this new type of spatially nonuniform discharge plasma, the cluster growth process is studied and the limiting cluster size is evaluated. The potential application of the cluster plasma as an illumination source is assessed and performance characteristics of such a source are calculated.