title: From short pulses to short breaks: exotic plasma bullets via residual electron control.
abstract: Plasma plumes with exotically segmented channel structure and plasma bullet propagation are produced in atmospheric plasma jets. This is achieved by tailoring interruptions of a continuous DC power supply over the time scales of lifetimes of residual electrons produced by the preceding discharge phase. These phenomena are explained by studying the plasma dynamics using nanosecond-precision imaging. One of the plumes is produced using 2 - 10 μs interruptions in the 8 kV DC voltage and features a still bright channel from which a propagating bullet detaches. A shorter interruption of 900 ns produces a plume with the additional long conducting dark channel between the jet nozzle and the bright area. The bullet size, formation dynamics, and propagation speed and distance can be effectively controlled. This may lead to micrometer- and nanosecond-precision delivery of quantized plasma bits, warranted for next-generation health, materials, and device technologies.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Advanced Electromagnetic Engineering and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: YuBin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xian
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: XinPei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: XueKai
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Pei
authors.forename: ShuQun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Xiong
authors.forename: Kostya Ken
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Ostrikov
mesh_terms: D004574:Electromagnetic Fields; D004579:Electron Transport / Q000528:radiation effects*; D004583:Electrons; D008422:Materials Testing; D058626:Plasma Gases / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000528:radiation effects*
chemical_list: D058626:Plasma Gases
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