Development of a Low Temperature Plasma Source for Investigating Dynamical Control of Discharge Behavior

Low temperature atmospheric pressure plasma sources are used in a wide range of applications, including cancer therapy, sterilization, and agricultural treatment. In each of these areas, fine dynamical control over discharge parameters is essential. However, achieving such control remains challenging due to the complex coupling between the plasma and its ambient environment. These interactions hinder independent tuning of critical parameters such as species concentrations, electric field strengths, and gas temperatures. Significant progress has been made to achieve decoupled control by combining multiple harmonic voltage waveforms. However, implementing such waveform control typically requires complex and specialized power supply configurations. Additionally, the performance of these plasmas remains highly sensitive to environmental conditions (e.g., humidity), further complicating reproducibility and control. To address these challenges, the development of a flexible atmospheric pressure plasma source designed for both pulsed and continuous operation across a broad frequency range (10’s of kHz to 10’s of MHz) is presented. This research aims to create an atmospheric pressure source capable of being driven by arbitrary voltage waveforms. A suite of active laser-based diagnostics enables spatiotemporally resolved measurements of particle dynamics and electromagnetic fields. We conclude with a discussion of planned feedback strategies for discharge stabilization and control.