Nom de l'entreprise / du laboratoire: University of Poitiers - PPRIME - UPR 3346 CNRS

Over the past decade, the scientific community’s interest in cold plasmas interacting with liquids has grown continuously. The strong chemical reactivity of plasma–liquid interactions gives rise to applications in a wide range of fields, such as agriculture, nanomaterial synthesis, medicine, and water treatment. When a plasma comes into contact with the surface of a liquid, the chemical species produced by the plasma penetrate the liquid and interact with the species already present within it. In addition, the plasma–liquid interface hosts a large number of physical phenomena. Among these many phenomena, we focus more specifically on the hydrodynamic effects that appear at the surface and within the liquid. As these flows play a fundamental role in the transport of species inside the liquid, it is important to analyze and understand them more thoroughly. This is the subject of the present thesis.

More specifically, in this experimental study, a pulsed plasma jet will first be investigated and characterized using electrical measurements and optical diagnostics (iCCD intensified camera). The objective will then be to establish a link between the chemical activity within the liquid and the flows induced in that liquid by the plasma jet. Chemical analyses and measurements will be carried out at GREMI in Orléans. In Poitiers, the experiments will focus more particularly on the study of liquid flows using optical systems such as strioscopy (or Schlieren visualization) and PIV (Particle Image Velocimetry).