Dynamic Responses of Biological Liquid to High Intensity and Sub-Microsecond Pulsed Electric Fields

In bacterial decontamination of liquid food, the use of a high-intensity sub-microsecond pulse electric field offers a number of advantages, including increased breakdown strength of the liquid medium being treated. We present a measurement of temporal response of a sub-microsecond voltage pulse to show both pre-breakdown and breakdown conditions of a bulk biological liquid to establish a parametric range in which electrical breakdown can be avoided. The paper reports sub-microsecond responses of current and voltage pulses, as well as dynamic impedance of the biological load, all of which are important in evaluating the performance of the pulsed electric technique in both cellular and bulk level