Are all atmospheric pressure cold plasma jets electrically driven?

Up to now, all studies on the dynamics behavior of non-equilibrium plasma plumes were focussed on noble gas plasma plumes. It was found out that they are electrically driven rather than gas flow dependent. Our study on the dynamics of a non-equilibrium N ₂ plasma plume reveals that the propagation velocity of the N ₂ plasma plume is several orders magnitude lower than those previously reported and further studies show that it is close to the gas flow velocity. The gas flow has a significant effect on the length of the plasma plume, and the results provide some fundamental knowledge about atmospheric pressure plasma jets. © 2012 American Institute of Physics.