Self-oscillations of the ionization in a nonuniform gas jet in a microwave field - Ionization oscillator

Self-oscillations have been observed in the ionization of a nonuniform gas jet emerging into a vacuum in a microwave field under experimental conditions similar to those employed to study electron acceleration in a plasma resonance field. These ionization coefficient oscillations during microwave breakdown in an inhomogeneous gas jet in vacuum are established to be caused by the screening of the jet by the dense, expanding plasma; a transition region is noted from a steady discharge to one in which an ionization wave propagates.