SUMMARYThe characteristic of sparkover in a DC nonuniform field gap is closely related to the discharge mode at the onset time of corona. In order to investigate the transition mechanism from burst corona to glow corona or streamer corona, a discharge experiment which is controlled by a pulsed laser in N 2 /NO mixture has been performed.From highly sensitive observation of discharge luminescence which corresponds to the discharge current wave, the transition from burst corona to streamer corona is identified by the electron avalanche, which is formed initially at the tip of the rod electrode with the highest electric field, and the effect of secondary ionization. Moreover, it is verified that the measured electron burst drift time with laser irradiation in the discharge gap is determined by the electric field of the discharge gap.