Enrico BISCEGLIA

“Atomic Species Production via electronically excited states in high ENergy density plasmas” (ASPEN) is a project whose goal is to understand and study efficient dissociation mechanisms of nitrogen molecule in new generation microwave plasma sources in a wide range of reduced electric fields (100-1,000 Td, i.e. 10-15-10-14 V cm2) and pressures (1-10,000 Pa). Indeed, atomic nitrogen can be applied in many industrial sectors, e.g. medicine, energy production and material synthesis. Plasma characterization will be performed thanks to “Two-photon Absorption Laser Induced Fluorescence” (TALIF) in nano-seconds (low pressures) and pico-seconds (high pressures) regimes, Quantitative Optical Emission Spectroscopy (QOES) and Mass Spectrometry (MS). Plasma generation will be ensured by the use of different sources, in particular Electron Cyclotron Resonance (ECR) in low pressure conditions (1-100 Pa) and microplasma sources (microstrips and coaxial transmission lines) in higher pressure conditions (up to atmospheric pressure).