Microwave diagnostics of atmospheric plasmas

Plasma treatment of biological tissues has tremendous potential due to the wide range of applications. Most plasmas have gas temperatures which greatly exceed room temperature. These are often utilized in electro-surgery for cutting and coagulating tissue. Another type of plasma, referred to as cold atmospheric plasma, or CAP, is characterized by heavy particle temperatures which are at or near room temperature. Due to this lack of thermal effect, CAP may provide less invasive medical procedures. Additionally, CAP have been demonstrated to be effective at targeting cancer cells while minimizing damage to the surrounding tissue.;A recently fabricated Microwave Electron Density Device (MEDD) utilizes microwave scattering on small atmospheric plasmas to determine the electron plasma density. The MEDD can be utilized on plasmas which range from a fraction of a millimeter to several centimeters at atmospheric pressure when traditional methods cannot be applied. Microwave interferometry fails due to the small size of the plasma relative to the microwave wavelength which leads to diffraction and negligible phase change; electrostatic probes introduce very strong perturbation and are associated with difficulties of application in strongly-collisional atmospheric conditions; and laser Thomson scattering is not sensitive enough to measure plasma densities less than 1012 cm-3.;The first part of this dissertation provides an overview of two types of small atmospheric plasma objects namely CAPs and plasmas utilized in the electro-surgery. It then goes on to describe the fabrication, testing and calibration of the MEDD facility. The second part of this dissertation is focused on the application of the MEDD and other diagnostic techniques to both plasma objects. A series of plasma images that illustrate the temporal evolution of a discharge created by an argon electrosurgical device operating in the coagulation mode and its behavior was analyzed. The discharge of the argon electrosurgical system was studied using an Intensified Charge-Coupled Device (ICCD) and the MEDD. The plasma density was measured and found to be in the range of (7.5-9.5) x 1015 cm-3 for applied powers of 15-60 Watts. The discharge can be classified as a glow discharge of alternating current with a contracted positive column. The discharge ignites every half-wave of the driving voltage when voltage increases above the breakdown threshold of about 300 Volts and is interrupted at the end of each half-wave when the voltage approaches zero. Additionally, it was shown that the plasma discharges on the target object during the positive half-wave of the voltage.;The power distribution was also analyzed. It was found that 60-70% of the input power is delivered into the tissue and the remaining 30-40% is consumed by the plasma column between the electrosurgical probe and tissue. The application of the MEDD to a helium CAP revealed the temporal dynamics of the discharge. It was observed that streamer development associated with the measured plasma density peak is developing on the decaying part of the main inter-electrode discharge.;The third part of the dissertation focuses on the simulation of a helium CAP. A one-dimensional model of a helium CAP was used to simulate twenty-one oxygen, helium, and nitrogen species. One hundred and forty reactions were successfully used. The predicted maximum and average densities of the species were tabulated. Graphs of the species densities were presented showing the change in densities with respect to the radius of the CAP. The plasma bullets can be seen via these graphs, with most species displaying maximum densities at a radius which is not the center of the CAP. This shows that the plasma bullets are a disk-like structure at the moment of time presented. Values of E/p were varied from 20 -- 30 volts/cm Torr. Based on experimental results of moments in time with which the maximum plasma density occurs, this data can be used to predict the actual E/p values for future experiments.