Experimental study of the spatio-temporal development of meter-scale negative discharge in air

Abstract

We study the development of a negative discharge driven by a Marx generator of about 1 MV in an air gap of 1 up to 1.5 meter, at standard temperature and pressure. We show the evolution of the discharge with nanosecond-fast photography together with the electrical characteristics. The negative discharge develops through four well-distinguished streamer bursts. The streamers have different velocities and life times in different bursts. The last burst triggers a positive inception cloud on the positive grounded electrode and a burst of positive counter-streamers emerges. The pre-discharge then bridges the gap and leaders grow from both electrodes. Finally a spark is formed. Looking closer into the pre-ionized zone near the cathode, we find isolated dots which are potential branching points. These dots act as starting points for positive streamers that move towards the high-voltage electrode. We also find such phenomena as space leaders and leader stepping in our laboratory sparks.

24 pages, 16 figures

References in corpus (6)

• The multiscale nature of streamers
• Review of recent results on streamer discharges and discussion of their relevance for sprites and lightning
• Multiple X-ray bursts from long discharges in air
• Stereo-photography of point-plane streamers in air
• Reconnection and merging of positive streamers in air
• Inception and propagation of positive streamers in high-purity nitrogen: effects of the voltage rise-rate

Cited by in corpus (12)

• The physics of streamer discharge phenomena
• Experimental study on hard X-rays emitted from metre-scale negative discharges in air
• Radio emission from negative lightning leader steps reveals inner meter-scale structure
• Spontaneous emergence of space stems ahead of negative leaders in lightning and long sparks
• Pilot system development in metre-scale laboratory discharge
• A computational study of accelerating, steady and fading negative streamers in ambient air
• The emission of energetic electrons from the complex streamer corona adjacent to leader stepping
• Relativistic electrons from sparks in the laboratory
• Time resolved 3Dinterferometric imaging of a section of a negative leader with LOFAR
• X-ray Emissions in a Multiscale Fluid Model of a Streamer Discharge
• Meter-scale spark X-ray spectrumstatistics
• In-flight measurements of energetic radiation from lightning and thunderclouds