Nanosecond-pulse diffuse discharge at atmospheric pressure

Nanosecond pulsed discharge has various discharge forms, especially, dense diffuse discharge is closely related to maximum x-ray radiation and runaway electron beams. In the paper, a two-stage magnetic compression solid-state pulse generator was used to produce repetitive nanosecond pulses for excitation of nanosecond-pulse diffuse discharge. Output pulse of the generator had a rise time of about 25 ns and a full width at half maximum of 40 ns. Electrical characteristic of diffuse discharge was studied by measuring its voltage-current waveforms and discharge image. In addition, the conduction current was calculated by subtracting the displacement current from the measured current. The experimental results showed that a large-scale and stable diffuse discharge could be obtained at atmospheric pressure. Furthermore, it indicates a good agreement between the measured current without discharge in single shot mode and the calculated displacement currents in all cases during the experiment. The calculated conduction current was unipolar and had amplitude of several amperes or less.