LAUSR

A zero-dimensional (volume-averaged) and a pseudo-one-dimensional (plug-flow) model are developed to investigate atmospheric-pressure plasma jet devices operated with He, He/O2, He/N2 and He/N2/O2 mixtures. The models are coupled with the Boltzmann equation under the two-term approximation to self-consistently calculate the electron energy distribution function (EEDF). The simulation results are verified against spatially resolved model calculations and validated against a wide variety of measurement data. The nitric oxide (NO) concentration is thoroughly characterized for a variation of the gas mixture ratio, helium flow rate and absorbed power. The concentration measurements at low power are better captured by the simulation with a larger hypothetical “effective” rate coefficient value for the reactive quenching N2(A Σ,BΠ) + O(P) → NO + N(D). This suggests that the NO production at low power is also covered by the species N2(A Σ,BΠ; v > 0) and multiple higher N2 electronically excited states instead of only N2(A Σ,BΠ; v = 0) in this quenching. Furthermore, the O(P) density measurements under the same operation conditions are also better predicted by the simulations with a consideration of the aforementioned hypothetical rate coefficient value. It is found that the contribution of the vibrationally excited nitrogen ar X iv :2 10 5. 05 74 2v 1 [ ph ys ic s. pl as m -p h] 1 2 M ay 2 02 1