Physical phenomena in a coplanar macroscopic plasma display cell. II. Comparisons between experiments and models

Measurements of infrared and visible emission in a macroscopic discharge cell similar to a plasma display panel (PDP) cell are analyzed using a two-dimensional fluid model of the discharge. The comparisons between experiments and models show a good qualitative agreement but the plasma spreading velocity above the cathode surface is much faster in the experiments. We find that including photoemission (in a simplified way) in the model considerably increases the agreement between experiments and models. With a well-chosen photoemission coefficient, the model reproduces the trends observed in the experiments when the gas mixture (between 2% and 10% of xenon in neon) or the applied voltage is changed. The influence of photoemission on the current rise time and on the velocity of plasma spreading above the dielectric surfaces is more important in the macrocell than in a similar (same dimension × pressure) PDP cell because resonant photon transport does not follow the similarity laws.