Removing dust particles from a large area discharge

Introducing a striped electrode in a large area discharge allows us to transport microparticles in the discharge in a user defined way. A directed and continuous dust transport is established by modulating the voltage signals on all individual electrodes to cause a traveling plasma sheath distortion. Particles, trapped in the potential wells and thus following the distortions, are finally removed from the central discharge region. Transport efficiency and velocity can be controlled by changing amplitude and traveling velocity of the plasma distortions.