Gas discharge powered by the focused beam of the high-intensive electromagnetic waves of the terahertz frequency band

The study of the gas discharge in quasioptical beams of electromagnetic radiation of the terahertz (THz) frequency band is attractive for fundamental and applied research. The study of this discharge was made possible by the emergence of unique and reliable sources of radiation of the THz frequency band. Electrovacuum radiation sources of THz band (gyrotrons) have been created at the Institute of Applied Physics (IAP RAS) (Nizhny Novgorod) with a power order of 100 kW in pulsed mode of operation (pulse duration ~ several dozens of µs) and a kilowatt in continuous mode, and investigations of gas discharge phenomena in various gases have been started. Even the first experimental studies of the discharge in noble gases (argon) showed a significant difference in the THz discharge from the discharge at lower frequencies, even in the dynamics of discharge glow. The maximum of the discharge glow was observed after the end of the THz pulse and the afterglow duration was hundreds of microseconds. This paper is devoted to the theoretical and experimental study of the breakdown thresholds of various gases by radiation at 263 and 670 GHz and the study of discharge dynamics in noble and molecular gases under the action of 670 GHz radiation.