Article: Data from N. Balcon and colleagues advance knowledge in plasma science.

According to a study from Toulouse, France, "Radio-frequency discharges are known to operate in two different regimes. The alpha regime of low current density and the gamma regime with higher current density."

"Our recent simulation results suggest that the formation of filaments observed in an atmospheric pressure argon discharge under RF excitation could be triggered by the regime transition alpha → gamma. A unidimensional fluid model taking into account the external circuit shows that above 120 mA/cm(2), the differential conductivity of the discharge becomes negative with a rapid increase in density which can lead to the formation of filaments. As the ...

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