Electro-Optic Crystal for Measuring the Space and Time Evolution of the Surface Charge in a Dielectric Barrier Discharge
Résumé
Dielectric barrier discharges (DBD) are controlled by the successive charging and discharging of the dielectric surface and optimising these discharges in various applications requires a good understanding of the space and time evolution of the charges on the dielectric layers. We describe in this paper a diagnostic of the surface charge based on the Pockels effect, where an electro-optic crystal (Bi12GeO20) is used as the dielectric layer of a DBD and as a probe of the electric field and surface charge. We first determine the electro-optic properties of the crystal and then illustrate the method on a low pressure DBD in coplanar electrode geometry similar to that of plasma display panel cells.