Abstract

Experiments that revealed the main trends in the development of complete breakdown in a long capillary tube for different electrode configurations are reported. It is demonstrated that, in the presence of an additional external electrode around the tube, a fast stage completing the breakdown is preceded by a slow stage caused by development of a weak-current surface barrier discharge inside the tube. This discharge is realized due to propagation of forward (from the high-voltage electrode) and backward (from the grounded electrode) surface ionization waves. The presence of preliminarily, locally deposited charge of the sign opposite to polarity of the voltage pulse leads to acceleration of propagation of ionization waves in the tube. In the absence of the external electrode, the breakdown occurs much faster but is characterized by a large scatter in the delay time (up to complete lack of breakdown) relative to the applied voltage pulse. Unstable operation of the gas-discharge device determined by development of breakdown represents a much more serious problem in many applications compared to the situation in which it turns on slowly but stably. Therefore, the results demonstrating the possibility of controlling the breakdown are of great scientific and practical value.

中文翻译：

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低压充氦长毛细管中发生击穿之前电离波的发展

摘要

据报道，实验揭示了长毛细管在不同电极配置下完全击穿发展的主要趋势。已经证明，在管周围存在附加的外部电极的情况下，完成击穿的快速阶段之前是由管内部弱电流表面势垒放电的发展引起的缓慢阶段。该放电是由于正向（来自高压电极）和反向（来自接地电极）表面电离波的传播而实现的。与电压脉冲的极性相反的，符号的预先局部沉积的电荷的存在导致加速电离波在管中的传播。在没有外部电极的情况下，击穿发生的速度要快得多，但是其特点是相对于所施加的电压脉冲，延迟时间（直到完全没有击穿）有较大的分散。与故障缓慢而稳定地导通的情况相比，由故障引起的气体放电装置的不稳定运行在许多应用中代表着更为严重的问题。因此，证明控制击穿的可能性的结果具有很大的科学和实用价值。