Today, the fact that non-ionizing THz and mm wave can be used in many areas reveals the necessity of devices that can efficiently detect these waves. Compared to existing commercial detectors, cost-effective neon indicator lamps acting as glow discharge detectors (GDDs) are known to be better in speed and responsivity. In GDDs, detection occurs as a result of the interaction between radiation and plasma. Although there are many studies in the literature trying to explain this interaction, these studies are limited to qualitative explanations made as a result of the experiments and the analytical models. Since GDDs are low pressure, non-local thermal equilibrium (non-LTE) plasma lamps, the plasma in these detectors has been simulated by using the parallel 1d3v Particle in Cell/Monte Carlo Collision (PIC/MCC) code, which can be used to study the kinetic behavior of particles. The interaction between plasma and THz/mm wave have also been included to the simulation code in order to examine the effect of this interaction. The results show that not only the electrical but also the optical detection mechanism that has been recently shown using GDDs could be analyzed with this code. Therefore, in this study, the reason for the brighter glow observed as a result of plasma-THz/mm wave interaction is investigated. In this context, the effect of THz/mm wave on one of excited states responsible for the light emitted by GDD is simulated and the results are discussed.
Sub-mm and mm waves are used in many applications such as spectroscopy and imaging, detection of weapons concealed under clothing, detection of diseases and non-destructive product inspection. By developing the THz detection mechanisms, the quality of this usability can be enhanced considerably. The commercial detectors currently used to detect THz waves range from Shottky diodes to bolometers, Golay cells and pyroelectric detectors. However, many of these detectors have limitations in terms of speed and responsivity. In addition, they have a common disadvantage of being expensive. For these reason, glow discharge detectors (GDDs) can be a good alternative since they are cheap and can detect mm-wave or THz radiations without the aforementioned limitations. To obtain optimal detection parameters, one needs to understand the interaction of the radiation with the plasma particles. In the literature, efforts to explain this interaction has focused on qualitative descriptions with analytical models. However, these theories have not been tested with real discharge parameters. For that reason, in this study, the plasma in the GDD is simulated by using previously developed parallel 1d3v Particle in Cell/Monte Carlo Collision (PIC/MCC) code to obtain the plasma parameters and determine the gas mixture ratios. Initial results show that the discharge current approximates the current measured through the home built glow discharge detector. Using these results an accurate simulation of the GDD discharge parameters has been performed. This platform will allow for understanding the effect of mm sub-mm radiation when added to the simulation which can aid in understanding optimum detection parameters.
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