Characterization of the high-voltage pulsed discharge plasma of ammonia by emission spectroscopy

We have used optical emission spectroscopy to characterize the high-voltage pulsed discharge of ammonia. Ammonia was highly dissociated in the discharge at low pressures. More atomic nitrogen was generated as compared to the discharge of nitrogen gas at the same pressure of 0.8kPa. We discuss the elimination of the oxygen impurity in the ammonia discharge, and we estimate the time-dependent atomic excitation temperature and the electron density from the measured spectra.