Measurements of electron temperature and density of a micro-discharge plasma using laser Thomson scattering

Laser Thomson scattering was successfully applied to measure electron temperature (T-e) and electron density (n(e)) in a micro-discharge plasma. This is the first time that this method has been used to obtain otherwise inaccessible plasma information from the near vicinity (0.3 mm) of a material surface. The key of the success was the suppression of strong stray laser light by using a triple-grating spectrometer. Values of electron temperature and density were T-e = (0.4-1.6) eV and n(e) = (6-10) x 10(18) m(-3), depending on the time from the beginning of the pulsed discharge. The technique developed here is readily applicable to plasma display panel (PDP) discharges.