| Abstract: | This work presents the investigation results of a normal glow discharge conducted in Ar-CH 4 and
mixture. The discharge is performed in gas at a pressure of P=0.4 Torr and is characterized
by a lack of a positive column. This study focused on measuring products of methane decomposition,
such as C 2 , CH, and H using a planar laser-induced fluorescence approach. The emerging results show a
high hydrogen atom density, indicating a high degree of methane decomposition of up to 20%. The
decomposition is sustained by high electron density, validated by the analysis of Stark broadening of
hydrogen Balmer lines. These results are important in positioning the glow discharge as a very potent
plasma source for methane decomposition. Additionally, the absolute densities of several species
measured in this work are useful for benchmarking plasma-chemistry simulations and building a reaction-diffusion model |