Epitaxial synthesis of diamond layers on a monocrystalline diamond substrate in a torch microwave plasmatron

The epitaxial growth of a diamond single-crystal film in a torch microwave discharge excited by a magnetron of a domestic microwave oven with the power of ≤1 kW in an argon-hydrogen-methane mixture with a high concentration of methane (up to 25% with respect to hydrogen) at atmospheric pressure on a sub-strate of a synthetic diamond single crystal (HPHP) with the orientation (100) and 4 × 4 mm in size is obtained. A discharge with the torch diameter of ∼2 mm and the concentration of the microwave power absorbed in the torch volume of >10³ W/cm³ is shown to be effective for epitaxial enlargement of a single crystal of synthetic diamond. The structure of the deposited film with the thickness up to 10 μm with high-quality morphology is investigated with an optical microscope as well as using the methods of the Raman scattering and scanning electron microscopy.     

Calculation of a coaxial microwave torch

Parameters of an equilibrium microwave discharge in an atmospheric-pressure argon flow in a coaxial waveguide with a truncated inner electrode are calculated numerically by using a self-consistent two-dimensional MHD model. The results obtained agree satisfactorily with the experimental data.     

Conversion of methane in a coaxial microwave torch

A microwave coaxial plasmatron (microwave torch) is used as a plasmachemical converter of methane into hydrogen and hydrocarbons. The measured energy cost of methane decomposition is close to its minimum theoretical value. Such a low energy cost is unsurpassed for reactors operating at atmospheric pressure. A model of the plasmachemical converter is constructed. The results of calculations in the frame-work of this model agree well with experimental data.     

Ozone-stimulated emission due to atomic oxygen population inversions in an argon microwave plasma torch

It is shown that, in a microwave torch discharge in an argon jet injected into an oxygen atmosphere at normal pressure, quasi-resonant energy transfer from metastable argon atoms to molecules of oxygen and ozone generated in the torch shell and, then, to oxygen atoms produced via the dissociation of molecular oxygen and ozone leads to the inverse population of metastable levels of atomic oxygen. As a result, the excited atomic oxygen with population inversions becomes a gain medium for lasing at wavelengths of 844.6 and 777.3 nm (the 3³ P–3³ S and 3⁵ P–3⁵ S transitions). It is shown that an increase in the ozone density is accompanied by an increase in both the lasing efficiency at these wavelength and the emission intensity of the plasma-forming argon at a wavelength of 811.15 nm (the ² P ⁰4s–² P ⁰4p transition). When the torch operates unstably, the production of singlet oxygen suppresses ozone generation; as a result, the lasing effect at these wavelengths disappears.     

Numerical analysis of a microwave torch with axial gas injection

The characteristics of a microwave discharge in an argon jet injected axially into a coaxial channel with a shortened inner electrode are numerically analyzed using a self-consistent equilibrium gas-dynamic model. The specific features of the excitation and maintenance of the microwave discharge are determined, and the dependences of the discharge characteristics on the supplied electromagnetic power and gas flow rate are obtained. The calculated results are compared with experimental data.     

Microwave plasma torch for analytical spectrometry

A microwave argon plasma torch is used to excite the spectra of various materials admixed to the working gas. It is shown that this torch is a very efficient tool for detecting extremely low impurity concentrations in the sample material. An important advantage of the method is the simplicity of testing liquid and dusty samples. The torch design and the device for spectral analysis created at the Institute of General Physics are described. The parameters of the torch plasma are estimated. These estimates agree satisfactorily with the observations of other authors. The spectroscopic studies of impurities in distilled water with the use of a plasma torch showed that the sensitivity of this technique is no worse than 10^?9, which is comparable with the sensitivity of inductively coupled plasma devices.     

Hydrocarbon plasma chemistry in a continuous microwave discharge

A study is made of the relation between the kinetic processes involving carbon-containing species and the intensity ratios of different emission lines in synthesizing diamond films in a microwave discharge plasma. The intensity ratios of the emission lines are measured as functions of the pressure, composition, and flow rate of the gas mixture. The kinetic processes involving carbon-containing components are simulated under conditions close to the experimental ones. It is shown that the intensity ratios of different pairs of lines can be used to control diamond film deposition.     

Generation of plasma oscillations in a low-pressure microwave discharge

The resonant excitation of plasma (Langmuir) oscillations during the microwave breakdown of a low-pressure gas is studied both analytically and numerically using the simplest uniform model. It is shown that, because of a significant delay in electron heating and cooling, this effect ensures that the plasma density increases at a high (resonant) rate, even after exceeding a critical value, and can reach a very high (overcritical) level.     

Visualization of the microwave beam generated by a plasma relativistic microwave amplifier

A method based on the detection of emission of a dielectric screen with metal microinclusions in open air is applied to visualize the transverse structure of a high-power microwave beam. In contrast to other visualization techniques, the results obtained in this work provide qualitative information not only on the electric field strength, but also on the structure of electric field lines in the microwave beam cross section. The interpretation of the results obtained with this method is confirmed by numerical simulations of the structure of electric field lines in the microwave beam cross section by means of the CARAT code.     

Effect of microwave radiation on a dusty plasma

The effect of microwave radiation on a complex plasma produced by an external ionizer is studied using numerical simulations. It is shown that, as the radiation intensity increases, the scattering of the incident radiation by charged metal grains is enhanced and radiation at the second harmonic of the incident radiation appears in the scattered spectrum. This effect is associated with the grain charge oscillations caused by the nonlinear action of the microwave field. It is found that, under the action of strong microwave radiation, the grain charge can increase by one order of magnitude. It is shown that, when the microwave intensity is high enough, the distribution of the electric field near a dust grain is shown to change so radically that the field component normal to the grain surface can even change its sign.     

Noise characteristics of a plasma relativistic microwave amplifier

Reasons for the occurrence of microwave noise at the output of a plasma relativistic amplifier have been analyzed. It is found that, in the absence of an input signal, the emission spectrum of the plasma relativistic microwave amplifier is similar to that of an electron beam in vacuum. It is concluded that microwave noise at the output of the amplifier appears as a result of amplification of the intrinsic noise of the electron beam. The emission characteristics of a relativistic electron beam formed in a magnetically insulated diode with an explosive emission cathode in vacuum have been studied experimentally for the first time. An important point is that, in this case, there is no virtual cathode in the drift space.     

Coaxial microwave plasma source

Physical principles underlying the operation of a pulsed coaxial microwave plasma source (micro-wave plasmatron) are considered. The design and parameters of the device are described, and results of experimental studies of the characteristics of the generated plasma are presented. The possibility of application of this type of plasmatron in gas-discharge physics is discussed.     

Ionization of sputtered metal atoms in a microwave ECR plasma source

The ionization of sputtered aluminum atoms in the plasma of a microwave ECR discharge intended for metal coating of submicron-size structures in microelectronics is studied. The spatial distributions of xenon plasma parameters and their variations under the action of metal atoms are investigated using probe and optical emission spectroscopy techniques.     

Tunable plasma relativistic microwave amplifier

A stable regime of the amplification of a slow plasma wave in a plasma waveguide during the injection of a high-current relativistic electron beam is obtained. For an input-signal frequency of 9.1 GHz, there exists a range of plasma densities in which the spectrum of the output microwave radiation lies in a 0.5-GHz-wide band. For a 40-kW input power at a frequency of 9.1 GHz, the maximum output power is 8 MW. It is shown experimentally for the first time that the beam-plasma amplifier can operate at frequencies of 9.1 GHz and 12.9 GHz. The range of plasma densities in which the regime of amplification is observed agrees with the results of calculations based on linear theory.     

Resonance microwave volume plasma source

A conceptual design of a microwave gas-discharge plasma source is described. The possibility is considered of creating conditions under which microwave energy in the plasma resonance region would be efficiently converted into the energy of thermal and accelerated (fast) electrons. Results are presented from interferometric and probe measurements of the plasma density in a coaxial microwave plasmatron, as well as the data from probe measurements of the plasma potential and electron temperature. The dynamics of plasma radiation was recorded using a streak camera and a collimated photomultiplier. The experimental results indicate that, at relatively low pressures of the working gas, the nonlinear interaction between the microwave field and the inhomogeneous plasma in the resonance region of the plasmatron substantially affects the parameters of the ionized gas in the reactor volume.     

Growth of single-crystal diamonds in microwave plasma

A microwave plasma (2.45 GHz) was used for depositing single crystal diamond layers at the deposition rate up to 40 μm/h in hydrogen-methane mixtures on the substrates from natural and synthetic diamond with the (100) deposition surface and with the size up to 5 × 5 mm. The structure and the defect-impurity composition of the fabricated single crystals with the thickness up to 600 μm have been investigated using Raman spectroscopy, photoluminescence spectroscopy, cathode luminescence spectroscopy, and electron and optical microscopy. A high quality and purity of the diamond layers deposited from a plasma was confirmed.     

The use of a high-current electron beam in plasma relativistic microwave oscillators

Relativistic microwave electronics faces the problem of using high currents of relativistic electron beams; i.e., it is possible to use beams the current of which is lower than that of actually existing high-current accelerators. We show the possibility of increasing the power of radiation generated in a plasma relativistic microwave oscillator (PRMO) due to an increase in the absolute value of current. For the beam currents close to the value of limiting vacuum current, the efficiency of microwave generation decreases; therefore, we study PRMO schemes with a high value of limiting vacuum current, i.e., schemes with a small gap between a hollow relativistic electron beam and the waveguide wall. The results of the experiment and numerical simulation are discussed.     

Gas temperature in the plasma of a low-pressure electrode microwave discharge in hydrogen

The gas temperature in an electrode microwave discharge in hydrogen at pressures of 1–8 torr and input powers of 20–90 W is determined from the relative intensities of the rotational lines of the electronically excited molecules of the Fulcher α system of molecular hydrogen. It is found that the gas temperature in the discharge is no higher than 800 K over the entire range of the experimental conditions under study. For this reason, plasma resonance cannot be regarded as a factor determining the physical processes in the discharge over the entire pressure range. Since the discharge unit is a nonuniform gas-dynamic system (the gas is fed through a small hole into a chamber of limited size), there is a possibility of generating vortex flows that intensively mix the gas. This results in a uniform distribution of the gas temperature throughout the entire volume of the spherical plasma structure produced in the experiment.     

Development of a linear corona torch discharge

An anomalous kind of the positive corona—a linear corona torch discharge—is investigated. The discharge is nearly steady-state and operates with various electrode configurations, e.g., wire-plane, needle-plane, wire-cylinder, and two or more wires placed in parallel. It is found that the discharge exists in the form of a pulsed corona or an ordinary positive corona, which alternatively change each other under the action of a spark-gap switch.     

Control over the radiation spectrum of a microwave plasma relativistic oscillator

General features of the operation of microwave oscillators based on the Cherenkov resonance interaction of a high-current relativistic electron beam with a preformed plasma are considered. Emphasis is placed on the presence of longitudinal modes of the plasma-beam resonator that make it possible to tune the radiation frequency. Methods by which the radiation frequency can be varied severalfold continuously or in discrete controlled steps and the width of the spectrum of simultaneously generated frequencies can be changed substantially are described. The results of numerical simulations are compared with available experimental data.