Impulse breakdown of positive point - plane gaps in air containing charged particles

Abstract

An investigation of the way in which naturally-occuring charged particles affect the growth of impulse corona discharges in positive point-plane air gaps is described. The presence of charged particles is shown to be essential for the production of normal branched corona. When a small auxiliary uniform electric field is used to remove charged particles from the gap the discharge fails to propagate beyond the immediate vicinity of the point electrode. It is suggested that the discharge propagates by means of avalanches initiated by electrons which are photodetached from the naturally-occurring charged particles.

Laser-induced breakdown characteristics of nonuniform dc corona discharge fields

“…Positive breakdown streamers develop more easily than negative ones in the corona discharge field [5]. As a result, the negative laser-induced breakdown voltages are higher than the positive ones in the needle gaps.…”