Laser triggered single streamer in a pin-to-pin coplanar dielectric barrier discharge

The effect of laser light interaction with alumina surface of a single filament coplanar dielectric barrier discharge has been investigated. It has been found that for laser photon energy lower than the pure alumina photoelectron emission threshold, the laser beam was effective in triggering single streamer discharge below regular ignition voltage threshold. This work demonstrates that triggering of the filamentary discharge occurs due to the laser induced extraction of electrons originally trapped by the plasma radiation at the dielectric surface; the trap energy levels lower than the dielectric band gap explain the easier electron detrapping due to incident laser photons. © 2009 American Institute of Physics. DOI: 10.1063/1.3152284