Physics Letters A 335 (2005) 295303

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Magnetic eld effects on electrical parameters of rf excited CO
2
lasers
S.H. Tavassoli

, H. Lati
Laser Research Institute and Physics Department of Shahid Beheshti University, Evin, Tehran, Iran
Received 5 July 2004; received in revised form 9 November 2004; accepted 14 December 2004
Available online 27 December 2004
Communicated by F. Porcelli
Abstract
In the present Letter a rf excited CO
2
laser embedded in an external, constant, and homogeneous magnetic eld is considered.
The magnetic eld effects on some discharge parameters such as VI characteristics, impedance of sheaths and positive column
of plasma, intensity of visible emission from plasma and thickness of positive column are investigated. There is an increase
in thickness of positive column and output power in presence of magnetic eld. Magnetic eld leads to an increase in the
discharge voltage and impedance for lower current densities and a decrease for higher ones. There is a current density in which
the magnetic eld has no effects on discharge voltage and impedance. There are two peaks on intensity of visible emission from
the discharge which at higher magnetic eld are pushed out toward the electrodes.
2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
PACS: 42.55.Lt; 52.55.Dy; 51.50.+v
Keywords: CO
2
laser; Magnetic eld; Radio frequency
1. Introduction
Radio frequency capacitive discharges (RFCD) in
the frequency range 1200 MHz are widely used for
gas lasers pumping. This technique is especially use-
ful for excitation of high power CO
2
lasers [13].
Magnetic eld has an efcient effect on many plasma
*
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: h-tavassoli@cc.sbu.ac.ir (S.H. Tavassoli).
processes [46]. When we apply a uniform magnetic
eld to a rf excited plasma, the electron mobility in
the direction perpendicular to the magnetic eld is re-
duced [7]. The reduction in the electron mobility leads
to a decrease in drift velocity of the electrons. Be-
cause of electronion recombination on the electrodes,
there exists a lack of electrons near the electrodes re-
sulting in the formation of thin positive charge layers
(sheaths). Thickness of sheaths near the electrodes is
equal to amplitude of electron drift oscillations. So
the reduction in the drift velocity of electrons leads
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doi:10.1016/j.physleta.2004.12.031
296 S.H. Tavassoli, H. Lati / Physics Letters A 335 (2005) 295303
to a reduction in the thickness of sheaths and as a re-
sult an increase in thickness of positive column. As
we know, in a rf excited CO
2
laser, small signal gain
of active medium in positive column region is much
more than that in sheaths [8]. Thus it can be con-
cluded that applying magnetic eld to rf excited CO
2
lasers leads to an enhancement in output power which
is supported with experimental results. In our previ-
ous work we introduced a one-dimensional model [9]
to show external magnetic eld effects on reduced
electric eld and electron density in rf excited dis-
charges. But the magnetic eld effects on some other
discharge parameters are unknown. Impedance mea-
surements [10,11] and intensity of visible emission
from plasma [12,13] are widely used as diagnostic
techniques. Voltagecurrent characteristics are impor-
tant because it is a criterion for stability of rf excited
discharges [14,15]. In this Letter we use our previ-
ous model to investigate the magnetic eld effects on
VI characteristics, impedance of sheaths and positive
column of plasma, intensity of visible emission from
discharge, and thickness of positive column. Gas mix-
ture of 10% CO
2
, 10% N
2
and 80% He at pressure of
100 mbar and excitation frequency of 81.36 MHz is
considered.
In Section 2 we describe the model to derive the
local electric eld and electron density. In Section 3
the plasma voltage and impedance are derived theo-
retically. In Section 4 the intensity of visible emission
from plasma is investigated. In Section 5 experimental
results are described. Finally, in Section 6, a summary
and discussion are given.
2. Description of the model
Two parallel plane electrodes located at x =1 and
x = 1 mm are considered. The electrode length is
much greater than separation between electrodes. So
we can assume the electrode length is innite. In this
conguration the electric eld and electron density can
vary in x direction. We consider an oscillating electric
eld, E(x, t ), along the x axis and a uniformmagnetic
eld, B
ext
, oriented along the z direction (Fig. 1). In a
rf excited glow discharge, the electric eld and current
density can be written as
E(x, t ) =E
0
(x) sin(t ),
Fig. 1. Laser conguration.
(1) J(x, t ) =J
0
(x) sin
_
t +(x)
_
.
The current density is the sum of the conduction and
displacement currents
(2) J(x, t ) = E(x, t ) +
0
E(x, t )
t
,
where is conductivity tensor in magnetized plasmas
which can be written as [16]
(3) =
_

T
0

0
0 0
II
_
.
We use the x component of current density
J
x
(x, t ) =

E
0x
sin(t ) +
0
E
0x
cos(t )
=
_
(

)
2
+(
0
)
2
E
0x
(x)
(4) sin
_
t +arctan

0

_
.
Where,

=
e
n
e
e is the perpendicular component
of the conductivity and
e
is the perpendicular com-
ponent of the mobility
(5)
e
=
2
3
e
m
e

_
0

2
c
+
2
m
u
3/2
f (u)
u
du,
where
c
=eB/m
e
and
m
are Larmor and collision
frequency, respectively. As can we see in Eq. (5), in-
creasing magnetic eld (Larmor frequency) leads to a
decrease in the electron mobility in the direction per-
pendicular to the magnetic eld. The magnetic eld
effect is more efcient when
c
is nearly equal or
greater than
m
. In our experimental condition
m
is
S.H. Tavassoli, H. Lati / Physics Letters A 335 (2005) 295303 297
about 10
11
s
1
. So we consider three cases of mag-
netic eld, B = 0.4, 0.6 and 0.8 T that is related to

c
/
m
0.7, 1.05 and 1.4.
Since, I
rms
is the main parameter which can be
controlled externally, we use E
rms
=E
0x
(x)/

2 and
J
rms
= J
0x
(x)/

2 instead of E
x
(x, t ) and J
x
(x, t ),
respectively. Using Eq. (4), the relation between rms
values of the electric eld and current density is
(6) J
rms
=
_
(

)
2
+(
0
)
2
E
rms
(x).
Using quasineutrality and neglecting electron attach-
ment, the electron density can be derived from conti-
nuity equation
(7)
n
e
t
=D
a

2
n
e
z
2
+f
i
n
e
Rn
2
e
[f n
e
],
where R, f
i
and D
a
are bulk recombination coef-
cient, ionization frequency and ambipolar diffusion
coefcient, respectively. The last term in the brackets
is related to losses that are due to the collisions of elec-
trons with the electrodes. In continue, we consider the
average value of electron density over one period
(8) D
a

2
n
e
z
2
+f
i
n
e
Rn
2
e
[f n
e
] =0.
To calculate the local electric eld and electron den-
sity, we should numerically solve Eqs. (6) and (8). To
take into account the last term in Eq. (8), we consider
the sheaths next to the electrodes. The electrons whose
equilibrium position is spaced from the electrodes by
a distance less than the oscillation amplitude reach the
electrodes and sink into them. Therefore, the thickness
of sheaths, W
TS
, will be equal to the oscillating am-
plitude of mentioned electrons and can be derived by
electron velocity equation
V
x
=
dx
dt
=
e
E
rms
(x) sin(t ),
(9) W
TS
=
3/2
_
/

e
E
rms
(x) sin(t ).
The thickness of positive column is derived by
(10) W
P
=D2W
TS
,
where D is separation between two electrodes.
Fig. 2(a) shows an increase in scaled thickness of
positive column as a function of magnetic eld. All
(a)
(b)
Fig. 2. (a) Scaled thickness of positive column as a function of mag-
netic eld. (b) Thickness of sheaths as a function of current density
for different values of magnetic elds.
curves in this gure have been scaled to case with-
out magnetic eld. The magnetic eld effect is more
signicant for higher current densities as shown in
Fig. 2(a). The thickness of sheaths, as a function of
current density for different values of magnetic eld is
shown in Fig. 2(b). As it can be seen in this gure the
increase of sheaths are linear and we can write below
linear equations for thickness of sheaths:
W
TS
(mm) =0.002610J
_
mA/cm
2
_
+0.01941,
B =0 T,
W
TS
(mm) =0.002420J
_
mA/cm
2
_
+0.01654,
B =0.4 T,
W
TS
(mm) =0.002217J
_
mA/cm
2
_
+0.01589,
B =0.6 T,
W
TS
(mm) =0.001995J
_
mA/cm
2
_
+0.01495,
(11) B =0.8 T.
298 S.H. Tavassoli, H. Lati / Physics Letters A 335 (2005) 295303
3. Voltage and impedance calculation
We consider an equivalent circuit for both sheaths
and positive column of rf excited discharges (Fig. 3).
C
D
and R
D
are capacitance and resistance equivalent
with sheaths and positive column, respectively. The
overall discharge voltage V
D
consists of the positive
column voltage V
P
in series with voltage across the
sheaths V
S
. The sheaths and positive column voltage
can be calculated by integrating of the electric eld
over the thickness of sheaths and positive column, re-
spectively,
(12) V
S
=2
D/2
_
D/2W
S
E(x) dx,
(13) V
P
=2
D/2W
S
_
0
E(x) dx.
Because of phase difference between V
S
and V
P
, the
total voltage is derived by
(14) V
D
=
_
V
2
S
+V
2
P
.
Fig. 4 shows total discharge voltage, V
D
, positive col-
umn voltage, V
P
, and sheaths voltage, V
S
, as a function
of magnetic eld. To cover current densities which are
used in rf excited CO
2
lasers three cases of current
densities J = 100, 200 and 300 mA/cm
2
are con-
sidered. As it shown in Fig. 4(b) and (c), when the
magnetic eld increases, the positive column voltage
increases and the sheaths voltage decreases. It is rea-
sonable because applying magnetic eld leads to an
increase in thickness of positive column and thus a
decrease in thickness of sheaths. Decrease in sheath
voltage for higher current densities is more than lower
Fig. 3. Equivalent circuit of rf excited discharge.
ones. As can be seen in Fig. 4(a), in presence of mag-
netic eld the discharge voltage increases for lower
current densities and decreases for higher ones. It can
be concluded when we apply an external magnetic
eld there is a current density in which discharge volt-
age is constant. In that point the decrease in sheath
voltage is compensated by increase in positive column
(a)
(b)
(c)
Fig. 4. (a) Discharge voltage, (b) positive column voltage V
P
and
(c) sheaths voltage V
S
as a function of magnetic eld for different
magnitudes of current density.
S.H. Tavassoli, H. Lati / Physics Letters A 335 (2005) 295303 299
Fig. 5. Voltagecurrent characteristics for different values of mag-
netic eld.
voltage. Increasing current density leads to an increase
in total discharge voltage.
Fig. 5 shows voltagecurrent characteristics for dif-
ferent cases of magnetic eld. As we can see in pres-
ence of magnetic eld slope of VI curve decreases.
For higher current densities the reduction in slope of
VI curve is more signicant and we need to a lower
power to reach to the same current density.
Using voltage and current density the discharge im-
pedance can be calculated by
(15) Z
D
=
V
D
I
D
e
i
,
where is phase difference between the voltage and
current
(16) =arctg
Z
TC
Z
TR
,
where Z
TC
and Z
TR
are imaginary and real part of
discharge impedance. Because the sheaths and pos-
itive column act as a capacitance and resistance, re-
spectively, the imaginary and real part of plasma im-
pedance are equal with sheaths and positive column
impedance, respectively (Fig. 3)
(17) Z
TC
=
V
S
I
D
,
(18) Z
TR
=
V
P
I
D
.
Fig. 6 shows total discharge impedance Z
D
, positive
column impedance, Z
TR
and sheaths impedance, Z
TC
(a)
(b)
(c)
Fig. 6. (a) Total discharge impedance, (b) positive column im-
pedance, (c) sheaths impedance as a function of current density for
different magnitude of magnetic eld.
as a function of current density for different values of
magnetic eld. As it can be seen the magnetic eld
leads to a decrease in discharge impedance for cur-
rent densities greater than 112 mA/cm
2
. An increase
in current density leads to an increase in discharge
impedance. The effect of current density for higher
magnetic eld is more signicant.
300 S.H. Tavassoli, H. Lati / Physics Letters A 335 (2005) 295303
4. Intensity of visible emission
It has bean experimentally established that ccrf ex-
cited discharges are possible in two forms, and
modes. A rf excited CO
2
laser works in mode. In
mode there are two peaks on intensity of visible emis-
sion from discharge near the electrodes. In this section
we want to predict radiative behavior of a rf excited
CO
2
laser discharge in presence of magnetic eld. In-
tensity of visible emission fromplasma is proportional
to electron density and electron energy [17]
(19) P
Emit

e
n
e
.
In an oscillating eld, the mean electron energy is de-
rived by [18]
(20)
e
=
e
2
E
2
0
m
e
(
2
+
2
m
)
,
where
m
and are collision frequency and a fraction
of electron energy which is lost in each collision, re-
spectively.
By assumption of constant collision frequency we
can conclude that electron energy is proportional to
E
2
0
. Thus we have
(21) P
Emit
E
2
0
n
e
.
Fig. 7 shows intensity of visible emission from dis-
charge as a function of distance from center of dis-
charge for different cases of magnetic eld. As can
be seen there are two peaks on the intensity of visible
emission from the discharge near the electrodes which
is in agreement with experimental results (Fig. 10(a)).
Magnetic eld leads to an increase in visible emission.
At higher magnetic eld, the region of very intense
visible emission is pushed out towards the electrodes
leaving a large fraction of the discharge with relatively
uniform emission. At lower current density the peaks
are closer to the electrodes.
5. Experimental results
5.1. Output power
Theoretical results show the magnetic eld leads
to an increase in scaled thickness of positive column
(Fig. 2(a)). In a rf excited CO
2
laser, small signal gain
(a)
(b)
Fig. 7. Intensity of visible emission from discharge as a function of
distance from center of discharge for different magnitude of mag-
netic eld. (a) J =100 mA/cm
2
, (b) J =200 mA/cm
2
.
of active medium in positive column region is much
more than that in sheaths [8]. Thus it can be concluded
that applying magnetic eld to rf excited CO
2
lasers
leads to an increase in output power. To showmagnetic
eld effects on output power of rf excited CO
2
laser
experimentally, we applied a dc external magnetic on
a commercial rf excited CO
2
laser (Plasma, LCD-15A,
f = 81.36 MHz) parallel to the laser tube. The mag-
netic eld was produced by a coil from 0 to 0.2 T. In
this experiment the effect of B
0
on the laser output
power for three initial approximate values (B = 0 T)
of 3, 6 and 9 W was investigated. The laser output
power was measured by power meter Gentec model
TPM-300. In Table 1 the values of output power are
listed for B = 0, 570, 1140 and 1900 Gauss, respec-
tively. Fig. 8 shows power increment as a function of
magnetic eld. All curves has been scaled to initial
values in B =0 T. As it can be seen in Fig. 8 when we
apply magnetic eld, the output power of CO
2
laser in-
S.H. Tavassoli, H. Lati / Physics Letters A 335 (2005) 295303 301
creases that is in agreement with theoretical prediction
(Fig. 2(a)).
5.2. Plasma impedance
In the second experiment we measure plasma im-
pedance to compare experimental and theoretical re-
sults of plasma impedance in absence of magnetic
eld. Furthermore using plasma impedance and lost
power in plasma we can measure current density ex-
perimentally. In this experiment we used a home made
laser head. Dimension of electrodes are equal to A
E
=
37 cm 0.9 cm = 33.3 cm
2
and inter electrode sep-
aration is 2.3 mm. We consider an equivalent circuit
for matching box, cable and laser head impedance
(Fig. 9). X
1
, X
2
and X
3
are impedance of three vari-
Table 1
Output power of rf excited CO
2
laser in presence of different values
of an external dc magnetic eld
Approximate
output power (W)
Magnetic eld (Gauss)
0 570 1140 1900
3 3.07 3.45 3.57 3.65
6 5.80 6.23 6.43 6.60
9 8.85 9.35 9.55 9.80
Fig. 8. Output power of rf excited CO
2
lasers as a function of mag-
netic eld.
able elements in matching box. X
Line
is impedance
of a cupper line inside the laser head which connect
cable to the laser electrodes. X
L
and X
C
are induc-
tively and capacitively part of electrodes impedance,
respectively. Z
ER
and Z
EC
are real and imaginary
part of plasma impedance and are equal to positive
column and sheath impedance, respectively. To mea-
sure plasma impedance, rst we measured head and
matching box elements by Network Analyzer Rohde
& Schwarz model ZVR. Then we turned on the dis-
charge and matched impedance by tuning matching
box elements. When power reection is zero the im-
pedance of equivalent circuit, Z
T
(Fig. 9) is equal to
50 Ohms [19]. So, the plasma impedance is calculated
by equating Z
T
to 50 Ohms:
(22) Z
T
=50.
To consider cable we use transmission line equation
[19]
(23) Z
in
=Z
0
Z
L
+jZ
0
tg l
Z
0
+jZ
L
tg l
,
where = 2/. , l and Z
0
are wavelength in ca-
ble, cable length and characteristics impedance of ca-
ble, respectively. The Z
ER
and Z
EC
was measured by
Eq. (22)
Z
EC
=47.6 0.1 ,
(24) Z
ER
=19.3 0.1 .
The transmitted power was measured by power meter
Bird model A43
(25) P
T
=350 20 W.
So current density can be calculated by
J =
I
A
E
=

P/Z
ER
A
E
=

350/19.33
33.3
(26) =127 mA/cm
2
.
Fig. 9. Equivalent circuit for matching box, cable and laser head impedance.
302 S.H. Tavassoli, H. Lati / Physics Letters A 335 (2005) 295303
(a)
(b)
Fig. 10. (a) Photograph of rf excited discharge. (b) Intensity
of visible emission as a function of distance from electrodes
(J =127 mA/cm
2
, f =81.36 MHz).
Now we compare experimental results of plasma im-
pedance (Eq. (24)) with theoretical investigations. As
it can be seen in Fig. 6 the sheath and positive column
impedance for J =127 mA/cm
2
and B =0 T are
Z
TC
=45.62 ,
(27) Z
TR
=20.18 .
Which are in agreement with experimental results
within 5%.
5.3. Visible emission
To measure the thickness of sheaths a photo was
taken from discharge in absence of magnetic eld.
Fig. 10(a) shows the visible emission from the dis-
charge was photographed by digital camera Canon
model A70. Discharge photo processed by com-
puter to derive transverse intensity of visible emis-
sion (Fig. 10(b)). Fig. 10(b) was derived by averaging
on emission along discharge length. As it shown in
Fig. 10(b) the thickness of sheath is equal to
(28) W
ES
=0.37 0.05 mm.
By theory the thickness of sheathes in absence of mag-
netic eld are derived by Eq. (11). The current density
is J =127 mA/cm
2
thus we have
(29) W
TS
=0.3509 mm
which is in agreement with experimental results
(Eq. (28)) in 6%.
6. Summary and discussion
In this Letter a rf excited CO
2
laser with gas mix-
ture of 10% CO
2
, 10% N
2
and 80% He at pressure of
100 mbar and radio frequency of 81.36 MHz is consid-
ered. We use a one dimension model to investigate the
magnetic eld effects on some discharge parameters
such as VI characteristics, impedance of sheaths and
positive column of plasma, intensity of visible emis-
sion fromdischarge, and thickness of positive column.
Theoretical results show applying magnetic eld
leads to an increase in thickness of positive column
(Fig. 2(a)). Small signal gain of active medium in rf
excited CO
2
lasers in bulk plasma region is much more
than that in sheaths [8]. Thus it can be concluded that
applying magnetic eld to rf excited CO
2
lasers leads
to an increase in output power which is in agreement
with our experimental results (Fig. 8). Magnetic eld
leads to an increase in the discharge voltage and im-
pedance for lower current densities and a decrease for
higher ones. It can be seen from Figs. 5 and 6 in cur-
rent density 112 mA/cm
2
the discharge impedance
and voltage for different magnetic eld is constant.
This point can be important if we want to increase
the output power of rf excited CO
2
lasers by apply-
ing magnetic eld.
When we apply a magnetic eld the slope of VI
curve decreases. So we need to a lower power to reach
to the same current density.
It is predicted theoretically that there are two peaks
on the intensity of visible emission from the discharge
which at higher magnetic eld are pushed out toward
the electrodes (Fig. 7). This is correlated with higher
thickness of positive column and output power at the
higher magnetic eld.
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