PLASMA
A HIGHLY SPECIFIC AND STABLE GAS MEASUREMENT
A discharge process occurs when sufficient energy is provided to ionize a gas stream . The resulting plasma consists of free electrons , ions , neutral molecules , and high-energy photons in a continuous state of ionization and recombination .
When energized by an external alternating high voltage field , gases flowing in a Dielectric Barrier Discharge ( DBD ) glow plasma produce intense emission spectra which relate directly to their unique molecular bonds .
The optical emission spectroscopy ( OES ) method combines precision optical filters and detectors to provide a highly selective gas measurement .
Our DBD plasma sensor consists of a custom quartz cell with transparent windows fitted with electrodes powered by a controlled radio frequency ( RF ) electromagnetic field . Multiple OES detector assemblies surrounding the quartz cell make selective measurements of emitted spectra of multiple gas species at the same time .
This highly sensitive and selective speciation of gases enables measurement of trace parts per billion ( ppb ) of gases .
EACH GAS PRODUCES UNIQUE GAS SPECTRA
P88