Large gap plasma display cell with auxiliary electrodes: Macro-cell experiments and two-dimensional modelling

In this paper we use a two-dimensional fluid model and a 'macroscopic' PDP cell to investigate the possibility of using large gap configurations with auxiliary electrodes to improve the efficiency of PDP discharge cells. The large gap allows operation in a transient positive column regime where energy is more efficiently deposited into xenon excitation, while the auxiliary electrodes are used to keep reasonable values of the operating voltage. Two types of auxiliary electrode configurations (floating and powered) are considered. The discharge characteristics and the discharge efficiency in exciting xenon are studied with simulations and by measuring the intensity of infrared emission from xenon and visible emission from neon in a macroscopic PDP cell. The results show that an efficient positive column regime can be achieved at reasonably low operating voltages when the auxiliary electrode configuration is carefully designed.