Electric field distribution in a volume gas discharge controlled by an electron beam
Abstract
Measurements of the electric field distribution in a volume discharge in air at atmospheric pressure excited by an electron beam are reported. For a mean discharge electric field strength of about 10 V/cm per mm Hg in air, uniform ionization of the gas by the electron beam occurs at a distance from the cathode of about one-half the length of the extrapolated path of a fast electron. The reduction in voltage at the accelerator diode due to discharge of the capacity accumulator causes a reduction in mean energy and length of the path of free electrons. Thus the size of the volume discharge region where conductivity is controlled by the external ionizer is smaller than the distance between the electrodes, causing nonuniform absorption of energy in the gas.
- Publication:
-
PMTF Zhurnal Prikladnoi Mekhaniki i Tekhnicheskoi Fiziki
- Pub Date:
- July 1979
- Bibcode:
- 1979PMTF...20...16O
- Keywords:
-
- Carbon Dioxide Lasers;
- Electric Fields;
- Electron Beams;
- Gas Discharges;
- High Power Lasers;
- Light Amplifiers;
- Electric Potential;
- Gas Ionization;
- High Energy Electrons;
- Pulsed Lasers;
- Spatial Distribution;
- Lasers and Masers