Mode resolved heating dynamics in pulsed microwave CO2 plasma from laser Raman scattering

Efficient CO2 reduction is predicted for CO2 microwave plasma by virtue of predominant excitation of the asymmetric stretch vibration. Although interpretation of ongoing research is generally based on this mechanism, direct measurement of the power partitioning to support the assumed preferential vibrational excitation in CO2 microwave plasma is currently lacking. Here, such measurements are performed on a 100 µs pulsed microwave CO2 discharge. The