Introduction

Abstract

The wide spectrum of possible investigations which gas-discharge physics offers has invigorated interest in the field, resulting in a long history of research. Different stages mark this activity: the simple accumulation of experimental results and the derivation of empirical laws, followed by aperiod of understanding the creation and maintenance of the discharge as a process in the self-organization of dynamic nonlinear systems, and thereafter proceeding to a kinetic modelling of discharges. The latter trend - with the rising capability of modern numerical facilities - has led again to a new accumulation of results, obtained by accounting for the specific details of the atomic and molecular structure of different gases. Though seemingly edectic to some degree, these activities are motivated to a large extent by applicational aspects. Indeed, the realization and rising potential of technological applications have strengthened and continue to stimulate growing interest in research on gasdischarge phenomena. However, whichever objectives motivate the investigations - modelling, diagnostics, applications - it is always necessary to be aware that gas discharges are self-organized systems governed by a strong ionization nonlinearity.