Streak investigations of the initial phase of a subnanosecond pulsed electrical breakdown of high-pressure gas gaps

Abstract

The initiation and the development of a breakdown of highly overvoltaged high-pressure (from 4 to 40 atm) gas gaps by voltage pulses having the risetime of 1 ns or shorter are studied experimentally and in theoretical terms. The study revealed that ionization processes leading to the breakdown start in the gas volume and not from the surface of the electrodes. The gap flashover is followed by ionization wave processes initiating in the gas volume and playing the decisive role at the first phase of the breakdown. The dynamics of the ionization waves strongly depends on the initial distribution of free electrons over the gas gap. The distribution of ionization waves is analysed when the initial electrons are distributed uniformly and nonuniformly over the gap. The calculation results are in qualitative agreement with the relevant experimental data. It is shown that the propagation of the ionization waves at the initial stage of subnanosecond pulsed electrical breakdown of gas leads to a redistribution of the electric field in the discharge gap and a region of a strong field, whose intensity is sufficient for the onset of emission processes and the generation of a short beam of fast electrons near the cathode, is formed at the cathode for a very short (up to 100 ps) time.

Numerical simulations of runaway electron generation in pressurized gases

“…Here let us note that, in general, also background electrons with density ≤ 10 3 cm -3 that exist naturally in gas 19 could become RAE. 23 However, the simulations showed that these electrons left the cathode region r < 14µm at an earlier time when E c < E cr . Thus, these background electrons cannot be considered as the source of RAE.…”

Стримеры При Субнаносекундном Пробое Аргона И Азота В Неоднородном Электрическом Поле При Обеих Полярностях

“…В ряде работ были проведены исследования динамики свечения плазмы в промежутке [3,6,8,10,11,13,17,21,24]. Так, в работе [3] было показано, что в воздухе атмосферного давления при положительной полярности импульсов напряжения (U = 43 kV, τ 0.5 = 12 ns, τ 0.1−0.9 = 2−3 ns), подаваемых на острийный электрод, свечение плазмы возникает вблизи острийного электрода и имеет форму, близкую к шару.…”

Fast electrons downstream of a plane grid cathode in a nanosecond discharge in atmospheric pressure air

“…Generation of runaway (fast) electrons and X-ray radiation essentially influences the breakdown of the gaps with electrodes having a small radius of curvature; see papers [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] published in recent years and references in [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. Electric field amplification in high-pressure gases results in generation of electric fields which are sufficient for appearance of the first fast electrons due to a field emission.…”