Session TI2: Plasma Technology, Nozzles, and the First Wall

9:30 AM–12:30 PM, Thursday, November 15, 2007
Rosen Centre Hotel - Salon 3/4

Chair: David Ruzic, University of Illinois

Abstract ID: BAPS.2007.DPP.TI2.2

Abstract: TI2.00002 : Measurements of electric field strengths in ionization fronts during breakdown

10:00 AM–10:30 AM

Preview Abstract

Author:

  G.M.W. Kroesen
    (Eindhoven University of Technology)

The electrical field strength during the initial phase of a low pressure, pulsed discharge in Xenon has been measured as a function of spatial position and time using fluorescence-dip Stark spectroscopy. For the first time, the role of the electrical field as the driving force of electrical breakdown has been studied experimentally in detail. A moving ionization front, measured with sub-microsecond resolution, has been detected. In this ionization front, the electrical field is roughly a factor 2 larger than the average in the discharge gap.

To cite this abstract, use the following reference: http://meetings.aps.org/link/BAPS.2007.DPP.TI2.2