Dynamics of an impulse dielectric barrier discharge in pure ammonia gas using electrical characteristics and imaging analysis

A glow nanosecond discharge from a plane-to-plane impulse dielectric barrier discharge (iDBD) with ammonia gas has been characterised by employing fast imaging and electrical diagnostics. More precisely, the aim of this study is to investigate the dynamics of the discharge establishment under various conditions of applied voltage, pressure, and gas gap. The comparison between the current measurements and the image analysis exposes a strong correlation between the fast excitation and ionization wave velocity and the rising current velocity. This correlation has been found only for diffuse mode discharge since a front wave could be clearly defined, denoted as the luminous propagation front (LPF). Furthermore, this correlation is supported by a proportionality factor of 1.5 10$^{-3}$ which is systematic over the studied conditions. Further investigations are considered to evaluate the relevance of such a value over more parameters. 13 pages, 12 figures