A photon-triggered spark gap

The results are reported of an investigation into a spark gap triggered by photon action. A device with a remotely situated trigger gap, designed to avoid trigger erosion problems, has been developed and tested. Results are reported for a variety of gas fillings, at a single trigger energy and in nitrogen, at three different trigger energies. A model for the breakdown mechanism at the minimum triggering voltage is presented, with calculations which show that the trigger energy available is two or three orders of magnitude greater than that required to initiate a breakdown mechanism of the kind proposed