2D numerical modelling of Trichel pulses in oxygen

Abstract

Negative corona exhibits a self-pulsating regime when the voltage applied to the cathode is slightly above the threshold of corona discharge. These pulses, named as Trichel pulses after G. W. Trichel [1], can be easily produced in electronegative gases, like oxygen, but it has recently been shown that they can also occur in non-electronegative gases, like nitrogen or argon [2]. Trichel pulses are characterized by a short duration, of the order of tens to hundreds of nanoseconds, which makes its numerical simulation a challenging task. Frequently, only three generic species are considered in these studies: electrons, positive ions and negative ions [3, 4]. Therefore, the plasma kinetics is reduced to the fundamental processes of ionization, electron attachment and recombination.