Streamer branching in a short gap: the influence of the power supply

Author

van Veldhuizen, E.M. ; Kemps, P.C.M. ; Rutgers, W.R.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Phys., Eindhoven Univ. of Technol., Netherlands

Volume

30

Issue

1

fYear

2002

fDate

2/1/2002 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

162

Lastpage

163

Abstract

The formation of streamers in a 25-mm gap in air is studied with an intensified charge coupled device camera with high resolution in space and time. Strong branching is observed and streamers reach the cathode in an area that is much wider than the gap length. Switching the high voltage with either a spark gap or a semiconductor stack has a large influence on the branching: much more discharge channels appear when using the semiconductor switch. Pictures taken with 0.8-ns resolution show that the streamers propagate with 3 ms/mm near the electrodes and with 0.5 mm/ns in the middle of the gap

Keywords

discharges (electric); photographic applications; plasma diagnostics; power supplies to apparatus; 25 mm; MOSFET switches; cathode; discharge channels; high resolution; intensified charge coupled device camera; optical imaging; power supply; semiconductor switch; short gap; spark gap; spatial resolution; streamer branching; streamer formation; streamer propagation; switching; time resolution; Cameras; Cathodes; Charge-coupled image sensors; MOSFET circuits; Optical switches; Power semiconductor switches; Power supplies; Sparks; Streaming media; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Plasma Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0093-3813

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TPS.2002.1003974

Filename

1003974