Spatio-temporally resolved spectroscopic diagnostics of the barrier discharge in air at atmospheric pressure

The technique of spatially resolved cross-correlation spectroscopy (CCS) is used to carry out diagnostic measurements of the barrier discharge (BD) in air at atmospheric pressure. Quantitative estimates for electric field strength E (x, t) and for relative electron density n(e)(x, t)/n(e)(max) are derived from the experimentally determined spatio-temporal distributions of the luminosity for the spectral bands of the 0-0 transitions of the second positive system of N-2 (lambda = 337.1 nm) and the first negative system of N-2(+) (lambda = 391.5 nm). These results are used to test the validity of some physical models of electrical breakdown in a BD. The influence of the spatio-temporal structure of the discharge on the chemical kinetics of ozone synthesis is studied by means of a semi-empirical method based on the results of spatially resolved CCS measurements.