Spontaneous branching of anode-directed streamers between planar electrodes.

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Modelling, Analysis and Simulation Spontaneous branching of anode-directed streamers between Planar electrodes

Non-ionized media subje t to strong elds an be ome lo ally ionized by penetration of nger-shaped streamers. We study negative streamers between planar ele trodes in a simple deterministi ontinuum approximation. We observe that for suÆ iently large elds, the streamer tip an split. This happens lose to Firsov's limit of \ideal ondu tivity". Qualitatively the tip splitting is due to a Lapla ian in...

Mechanism of branching in negative ionization fronts.

When a strong electric field is applied to nonconducting matter, narrow channels of plasma called streamers may form. Branchlike patterns of streamers have been observed in anode directed discharges. We explain a mechanism for branching as the result of a balance between the destabilizing effect of impact ionization and the stabilizing effect of electron diffusion on ionization fronts. The disp...

On negative streamers: a deterministic approach

In dielectric breakdown, the phenomena of streamers formation and spontaneous branching is commonly observed. A deterministic negative streamer model is reviewed in this article. We recently have proposed that this reduced model is able to explain the branching phenomena, due to a Laplacian instability quite like in viscous fingering. Particular attention is paid to the physical interpretation ...

Positive streamers in air and nitrogen of varying density: experiments on similarity laws

Positive streamers in ambient air at pressures from 0.013 to 1 bar are investigated experimentally. The voltage applied to the anode needle ranges from 5 to 45 kV, the discharge gap from 1 to 16 cm. Using a ”slow” voltage rise time of 100 to 180 ns, the streamers are intentionally kept thin. For each pressure p, we find a minimal diameter dmin. To test whether streamers at different pressures a...