Electrical discharges at small gap lengths stimulated by femtosecond laser pulses

Author

Chen, Jian ; Choi, Hae Woon ; Farson, Dave F. ; Rokhlin, Stanislav I.

Author_Institution

Laboratory for Multiscale Materials Processing & Characterization, The Ohio State University, 1248 Arthur E Adams Dr, Columbus OH 43221

Volume

2

fYear

2006

fDate

17-20 June 2006

Firstpage

595

Lastpage

598

Abstract

The electrical characteristics of current-controlled electrical discharges formed in micro- and nano-scale gaps between sharpened metal cathodes and metal anodes were studied. When electrical potential was applied to the tip, transient electrical discharges were observed to form at a field of about 3×108V/m. Irradiation of the tip/gap/substrate area with a femtosecond laser beam was found to decrease the field required for spark initiation. The length of current-controlled discharges increased with voltage. The surface modification at the gold film anodes was found to be well-controlled when current was regulated and the sharpened metal cathode tips were not much modified by discharges.

Keywords

arc discharges; electrical breakdown; electrode erosion; laser triggering; sparks; Anodes; Cathodes; Electric potential; Electric variables; Laser beams; Optical pulses; Sparks; Substrates; Surface discharges; Voltage; arc discharges; electrical breakdown; electrode erosion; laser triggering; sparks;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Nanotechnology, 2006. IEEE-NANO 2006. Sixth IEEE Conference on

Print_ISBN

1-4244-0077-5

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/NANO.2006.247723

Filename

1717173