Patent ID: 7554053

Claim:
A plasma system comprising: a microwave waveguide assembly; and a plasma tube assembly intersecting said microwave waveguide assembly, said plasma tube assembly having a plasma-sustaining region defined by an upstream plurality of plasma traps and a downstream plurality of plasma traps, wherein a first plasma trap among at least one of said upstream plurality of plasma traps and said downstream plurality of plasma traps includes a first downstream corrugated outer surface and a first upstream corrugated outer surface disposed at an opposite side to said first downstream corrugated outer surface, said first plasma trap further including a first plurality of corrugated peaks protruding, in a first direction parallel to said plasma tube assembly, outward from said first downstream corrugated outer surface thereby forming said first downstream corrugated outer surface, said first plasma trap further including a second plurality of corrugated peaks protruding, in a second direction parallel to said plasma tube assembly and said first plurality of corrugated peaks, outward from said first upstream corrugated outer surface thereby forming said first upstream corrugated outer surface, and a second plasma trap among at least one of said upstream plurality of plasma traps and said downstream plurality of plasma traps includes a second upstream corrugated outer surface and a second downstream corrugated outer surface disposed at an opposite side to said second upstream outer surface, said second plasma trap further including a third plurality of corrugated peaks protruding, in said first direction parallel to said plasma tube assembly, outward from said second downstream corrugated outer surface thereby forming said second downstream corrugated outer surface, said second plasma trap further including a fourth plurality of corrugated peaks protruding, in said second direction parallel to said plasma tube assembly and said third plurality of corrugated peaks, outward from said second upstream corrugated outer surface thereby forming said second upstream corrugated outer surface, said second upstream corrugated outer surface facing said first downstream corrugated outer surface.