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 UFN, Forthcoming paper (Mi ufn6296)

METHODOLOGICAL NOTES

Nanosecond volume discharge in air initiated by a picosecond runaway electron beam

G. A. Mesyatsa, M. I. Yalandinb

a P. N. Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow
b Institute of Electrophysics, Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Ekaterinburg

Abstract: For the study of the discharge in atmospheric air, the voltage pulse with amplitude of 250 kV and duration of 1 ns was used. The discharge started with advent of the field emission current from the cathode field enhancer. Then, the beam of runaway electrons with amplitude of 0.5–1 A and duration of $10^{-11}$ s appeared. The interaction of this beam with the voltage pulse was investigated by reflectometry method. The discharge event was identified by the reflected pulse polarity change. If runaway electron beam appearance is delayed by the time $\Delta t_1$, then polarity inversion is delayed by the time of $\Delta t_2=\Delta t_1 = 200$ ps. This is caused by small discharge formation time of 33 ps due to a large number of runaway electrons (of about 108) which initiate discharge. The time between beginning of the discharge and the voltage inversion beginning did not exceed 100 ps. Theoretical estimation of this process is carried out based on the idea of multielectron initiation of the discharge. It is shown that in the experiment we observe the nanosecond discharge with multielectron initiation which is created by runaway electrons of the discharge.

Document Type: Article
PACS: 51.50.+v