X-ray radiation from the volume discharge in atmospheric-pressure air

X-ray radiation from the volume discharge in atmospheric-pressure air is studied under the conditions when the voltage pulse rise time varies from 0.5 to 100 ns and the open-circuit voltage amplitude of the generator varies from 20 to 750 kV. It is shown that a volume discharge from a needle-like cathode forms at a relatively wide voltage pulse (to ≈60 ns in this work). The volume character of the discharge is due to preionization by fast electrons, which arise when the electric field concentrates at the cathode and in the discharge gap. As the voltage pulse rise time grows, X-ray radiation comes largely from the discharge gap in accordance with previous experiments. Propagation of fast avalanche electrons in nitrogen subjected to a nonuniform unsteady electric field is simulated. It is demonstrated that the amount of hard X-ray photons grows not only with increasing voltage amplitude but also with shortening pulse rise time.