Sub-nanosecond time resolved light emission study for diffuse discharges in air under steep high voltage pulses

Pin-to-plane discharges in centimetre air gaps and standard conditions of pressure and temperature are generated under very high positive nanosecond scale voltage pulses. The experimental study is based on recordings of sub-nanosecond time resolved and Abel-processed light emission profiles and their complete correlation to electrical current waveforms. The effects of the voltage pulse features (amplitude between 20 and 90 kV, rise time between 2 and 5.2 ns, and time rate between 4 and 40 kV ns−1) and the electrode configuration (gap distance between 10 and 30 mm, pin radius between 10 and 200 µm, copper, molybdenum or tungsten pin material) are described. A three time period development can be found: a glow-like structure with monotonic light profiles during the first 1.5 ns whose size depends on time voltage rate, a shell-like structure with bimodal profiles whose duration and extension in space depends on rise time, and either diffuse or multi-channel regime for the connection to the cathode plane according to gap distance. The transition of the light from monotonic to bimodal patterns reveals the relative effects and dynamics of streamer space charge and external laplacian field. A classical 2D-fluid model for streamer propagation has been used and adapted for very high and steep voltage pulses. It shows the formation of a strong space charge (streamer) very close to the pin, but also a continuity of emission between the pin and the streamer, and electric fields higher than the critical ionization field (28 kV cm−1 in air) almost in the whole gap and very early in the discharge propagation.