Finger evolution of a gas bubble driven by atmospheric pressure plasma.

Abstract

We report the generation and evolution of a finger-shaped bubble in liquid by dielectric discharge setup. The spherical gas bubble is deformed into a finger-shaped bubble after the ignition of plasma. The presence of the filamentary discharge in the bubble not only provides the local heating to the bubble, it also changes the distribution of the electric field in the bubble and the bubble mutually provides the pathway to the discharge. The reduced surface tension on the liquid-gas interface due to the rise of temperature by plasma heating and the nonuniform electric field caused by the presence of filamentary discharge might induce the concave-shaped bubble. We also observe the formation of the quasi-two-dimensional bubble, which is generated from the bubble and attached on one side of the electrodes. It is found that the discharge induces the growth of the periodic fluctuations in the thin layer of gas.