Dielectric Anapole Microwave Plasma Jet

Project ID:TECH-2024-12

Background 
Cold plasma is a critical technology in many application fields, including microelectronic fabrication, plasma medicine, flow control, lighting, propulsion, and sterilization.  However, generating stable plasma is not a trivial task as energy-hungry machines are often required.  Currently, igniting and sustaining plasma is usually performed by using either high-voltage pulses (e.g., 100s of V to kV) or high-power radio frequency (RF) sources (e.g., 10s of W).  Therefore, even though low-power plasma with effective surface power density on the order of 0.1 to 1 W/cm² is sufficient for many applications, including some medical ones, most current plasma sources are bulky and expensive units as they are inefficient in transferring energy to the plasma.  Hence, efficient plasma with low power consumption would impact a wide range of applications such as plasma medicine, food and water decontamination, lighting, and reconfigurable RF electronics. In sum, plasma jets have many applications, such as in the biomedical field, or for plasma propulsion or plasma processing. Most plasma jets employ either RF or pulse excitation. However, these devices are typically not efficient, and are energy hungry, bulky, heavy, and expensive. Also, because of the high power/voltage involved, safety is a big concern. There are other microwave plasma jets, in both resonant and non-resonant modes, but still typically require high power consumption. Accordingly, there remains a need in the art for new and improved plasma jets. 

Invention Description

Researchers at the University of Toledo have developed a new dielectric plasma jet based on anapole physics. The plasma jet prototype has demonstrated a surpassing of current plasma jet technologies in several key aspects including compactness, compatibility with planar fabrication techniques, power efficiency, cost-effectiveness, tunability, and a twofold increase in electron density compared to the highest levels achieved to date.

Applications

Novel anapole microwave plasma jet able to explore frequency-dependent plasma characteristics that are useful for Bio-Medical, Food Processing, Agriculture, and various other venues.

Advantages

• First plasma jet based on anapole physics with a very compact form factor.
• Can operate with different gas types (e.g., helium and argon) and flow rates (from 0.1 to a few slpm)
• Highly efficient, has extremely low power consumption, and has 2x electron density of similar devices.
• Higher safety for biomedical applications like skin/dental treatments, disinfection, and cancer therapy.
• Frequency tunability is introduced for the first time, enabling the plasma jet to explore frequency dependent plasma characteristics

Publication:                 Non-Radiating Resonances: Anapoles Enabling Highly-Efficient Plasma Jets within Dielectric Structures                                                                                      

IP Status: Patent Pending