Aachen PK 2003 – scientific programme
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P: Plasmaphysik
P 17: Poster III
P 17.28: Poster
Thursday, March 20, 2003, 17:30–19:15, Foyer
Experimental setup for the study of plasma breakdown — •Erik Wagenaars, Mark Bowden, and Gerrit Kroesen — Eindhoven University of Technology, Department of Applied Physics, P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Plasma breakdown is the process that occurs when a voltage is applied across an electrode gap. The neutral gas in the gap becomes ionized and an electrical current is established. Examples of breakdown can be found both in nature, for example lightning, and in man-made devices such as discharge lamps and air purification systems. The plasma breakdown process can be described by an ionization front that crosses an electrode gap with high velocities, typically 106-108 m/s. Because of these high velocities, the entire breakdown process only takes 10−10-10−8 sec, which makes it difficult to study experimentally. The goal of our research is to study the breakdown process on a sub-nanosecond time scale. More specifically, the aim is to study the electric field distributions and electron properties of the ionization front crossing the discharge using in-situ laser diagnostic techniques. The presented setup is designed for measuring electric fields during breakdown by means of Stark spectroscopy. To obtain sub-nanosecond resolution, a temporal pulse compression system is designed and applied. Preliminary results of measurements on different experimental breakdown geometries will be presented.