the plasma in a course of given length a conductive element can be connected to the ground potential or a predetermined potential at the desired distance the ball properties time duration and propagation speed can be controlled by the design of the discharge cell the length of the discharge cell or the pulse power waveform temporal profile can for instance be shaped for the production of a specific plasma ball when a plasma ball 4 is released to open air it generates a plasma plume 16 that can reach several centimetres depending on the conditions of discharge in fact when the plasma ball 4 comes out of the dielectric guide 15 it expands in a mixture of the gas filling the guide and ambient air and generates a reactive plasma plume 16 the plasma plume 16 can thus be produced at large distances from the discharge cell 10 by the use of an easy to handle dielectric guide the development of a cold plasma plume at atmospheric pressure may find applications in medicine biology decontamination sterilisation and plasma surface process the short duration and high speed plasma ball may also be of interest for the development of a new plasma based high voltage switch for pulsed power technologies as we.