Plasma Distribution in a Column of a Low-Pressure Microwave Discharge Sustained by a Standing Surface Wave

The structure of a low-pressure microwave discharge sustained by a standing surface electromagnetic wave (SEW) in a quartz tube filled with argon was studied. The standing wave was formed using a set of two flat metal mirrors, which formed an open SEW resonator. The plasma density profile and structure of the electromagnetic field of the SEW were studied in the pressure range from 0.25 to 10 Torr. The excitation of the standing wave allowed us to independently study the longitudinal Ez and transverse Er components of the SEW electric field vector. It was confirmed experimentally that the oscillation phases of the components of the SEW are shifted by π. The excitation of the standing wave in the plasma column leads to the formation of local minimums and maximums of plasma density, whose period equals half the wavelength of the surface wave. At the same time, the spatial period of density modulation is close to the distribution of the Ez component of the standing SEW. It was shown that the formation time of the modulated structure of plasma density is close to the characteristic time of diffusion, while the degree of modulation increases with increasing pressure. It was shown experimentally that it is possible to produce a plasma column with plasma density modulation nemax/nemin ≈ 5 and a length of about 10 wavelengths.