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Light emission before and during electrical breakdown from the surface of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) with metallized electrodes has been investigated with ac electric field application along the polymer surface, using a photon counting method, in order to understand the initiation mechanism of the prebreakdown. Two distinct stages of light emission were observed depending on the applied voltage: a low-level stable light emission, electroluminescence (EL), before prebreakdown and an irregular intense light emission during prebreakdown. Before prebreakdown, charge injection from the electrode directly into the polymer surface layer results in EL emission and the formation of long-term electron space charges away from the electrode. The crucial factor of prebreakdown initiation is the strong modification of the local electric field near the electrode because of space charge formation in the surface layer before prebreakdown. The prebreakdown with intense light emission is initiated by detrapping the long-term trapped electrons toward the electrode via the vacuum and/or the surface layer in the positive half-cycle of ac voltage.

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Light emission from polyethylene with a needle-like microvoid has been investigated under the application of a negative impulse voltage in order to examine the temporal behavior of discharge in the microvoid at the metal-polymer interface. The light emission was observed distinctly during the voltage rise and fall phases with a period of no light emission between the two light emitting phases. The emitted light consisted of sequential light pulses which appeared regularly, according to the temporal variation rate of the voltage. The sequential light pulses corresponded to the sequential discharge in the microvoid which occurred to keep the voltage across the microvoid below the discharge inception voltage. The characteristics of light emission revealed the occurrence of intermittent discharges in the microvoid during the voltage variation phase of the impulse voltage, caused by charge deposition on the polymer surface of the microvoid.

The state-selective dissociation dynamics for anionic and excited neutral fragments of gaseous SiCl 4 following Cl 2p and Si 2p core-level excitations were characterized by combining measurements of the photoninduced anionic dissociation, x-ray absorption and UV/visible dispersed fluorescence. The transitions of core electrons to high Rydberg states/doubly excited states in the vicinity of both Si 2p and Cl 2p ionization thresholds of gaseous SiCl 4 lead to a remarkably enhanced production of anionic, Si − and Cl − , fragments and excited neutral atomic, Si * , fragments. This enhancement via core-level excitation near the ionization threshold of gaseous SiCl 4 is explained in terms of the contributions from the Auger decay of doubly excited states, shake-modified resonant Auger decay, or/and post-collision interaction. These complementary results provide insight into the state-selective anionic and excited neutral fragmentation of gaseous molecules via core-level excitation.

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A pulsed glow discharge is used for sputtering in the presence of a gas flow to form a metal vapour jet suitable for use in a room-temperature metal vapour laser. It is found that the sputtering process is most efficient during the first 50 ps of the discharge pulse. Switching the discharge in the burst mode with a pulse duration of about 15 ps and an interpulse delay of about 18 ps achieves similar metal vapour concentrations in the jet to that attained by steady-pulse sputtering, but requires only half the total discharge energy.