No abstract

This work investigates the development of nanosecond pulsed discharges in water ignited with the application of both positive and negative polarity pulses to submerged pin to plane electrodes. Optical diagnostics are used to study two main aspects of these discharges: the initiation phase, and the development phase. Nanosecond pulses up to with rise time, duration and fall time are used to ignite discharges in a gap between a copper plate and a tungsten needle with radius of curvature of . Fast ICCD imaging is used to trace the discharge development over varying applied pulse amplitudes for both positively and negatively applied pulses to the pin electrode. The discharge is found to progress similar to that of discharges in long gaps -long sparks -in gases, both in structure and development. The more important initiation phase is investigated via Schlieren transmission imaging. The region near the tip of the electrode is investigated for slightly under-breakdown conditions, and changes in the liquid's refractive index and density are observed over the duration of the applied pulse. An attempt to explain the results is made based on the electrostriction model of discharge initiation.

In this study we have studied the initial stage of the nanosecond-pulsed discharge development in liquid phase. Modeling predicts that in the case of fast rising strong nonhomogeneous electric fields in the vicinity of high voltage pin electrode a region saturated with nanoscale non-uniformities may be developed. This phenomenon is attributed to the electrostriction mechanisms and may be used to explain development of breakdown in liquid phase. In this work, schlieren method was used in order to demonstrate formation of negative pressure region in liquids with different dielectric permittivity constants: water, ethanol and ethanol-water mixture. It is shown that this density perturbation, formed at the raising edge of the high voltage pulse, is followed by a generation of a shock wave propagating with the speed of sound away from the electrode, with negative pressure behind it.

In this paper, based on a theoretical model [1], it has been shown experimentally that the initial stage of development of a nanosecond breakdown in liquids is associated with the appearance of discontinuities in the liquid (cavitation) under the influence of electrostriction forces. Comparison of experimentally measured area dimensions and its temporal development were found to be in a good agreement with the theoretical calculations.

The effect of the voltage rise time on nanosecond and sub-nanosecond impulse breakdown of distilled water is studied. The dependence of anode initiated streamer inception on this parameter is shown to be more intricate than previously reported, particularly as it relates to mechanisms directly in the liquid phase. Dynamics of the emission phase for sub-nanosecond pulses with 600ps rise time are presented to enable comparison with previous work on nanosecond initiation features.Schlieren imaging is also used to show the development of optical density perturbations and rarefactions as a result of electrostriction in the liquid which were previously found for nanosecond pulses as well. The mechanism of nanopore generation in the liquid due to fast impulses proposed by Shneider, Pekker and Fridman is used to explain the results.