Accession Number:

AD0626933

Title:

THE INITIATION OF A GLOW DISCHARGE,

Descriptive Note:

Corporate Author:

AEROSPACE RESEARCH LABS OFFICE OF AEROSPACE RESEARCH WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB OHIO

Personal Author(s):

• Bletzinger,P.
• Johnson,H. E.
• Garscadden,A.

Report Date:

1965-10-01

Pagination or Media Count:

25.0

Abstract:

The initiation of a mercury-argon discharge was studied with emphasis on the establishment of the positive column. A high voltage, constant current power supply was switched by an electronic circuit which permitted independent control of the pulse length and of the pulse repetition frequency. The effects of the initial breakdown in the gas mixture were examined in detail using time resolved spectrographic techniques. After an initial period of approximately 1 millisec, the regular discharge features, which under the experimental conditions included moving striations started to appear. Image converter records showed that their initiation, in the form of a backward wave, was from the cathode, thus supporting the theory of Pekarek. It is concluded that in the study of decaying plasmas the assumption of initial spatial homogeneity is not always valid, and the position and degree of inhomogeneity will usually be a strong function of the initial conditions. Author

Descriptors:

• PRODUCTION
• STABILITY
• SPECTROSCOPY
• PLASMAS(PHYSICS)
• MERCURY
• ARGON
• OSCILLATION

Subject Categories:

• Plasma Physics and Magnetohydrodynamics

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE