Power transformers are crucial in an electric power system. Failures in transformers can affect the quality and cause interruptions in the power supply. Partial discharges are a phenomenon that can cause failures in the transformers if not properly monitored. Typically, the monitoring requires high-cost corrective maintenance or even interruptions of the power system. Therefore, the development...

In this paper we study the lateral instability of streamer discharges using a continuum discharge model. We observe similarities to Kelvin-Helmholz in fluids. strong electric fields, long wave length perturbations can grow while small diminish during evolution. perform numerical simulations and carry out asymptotic analysis instability. Our results could explain growth observed experimental dis...

Progresses in the research on physical processes of lightning discharge and electric structure of thunderstorm in the last decade in China have been reviewed. By using the self-developed lightning detecting and locating techniques with high temporal and spatial resolution, the characteristics and parameters of lightning discharge in some representative areas in China have been obtained. Observa...

A long-standing but fundamental question in lightning studies concerns how lightning is initiated inside storms, given the absence of physical conductors. The issue has revolved around the question of whether the discharges are initiated solely by conventional dielectric breakdown or involve relativistic runaway electron processes. Here we report observations of a relatively unknown type of dis...

A rather novel method has been studied, referred to here as electric-field-induced coherent Raman scattering (E-CRS). Two beams of laser pulses of frequencies, whose energy difference matches to the Raman transition, produce an infrared (IR) coherent beam corresponding to the Raman transition energy in the presence of a direct-current (dc) electric field. The IR light may be considered as an an...

Plasma-based pollutant remediation and value-added gas production have recently gained increased attention as possible alternatives to the currently-deployed chemical reactor systems. Electrical discharges in packed bed reactors (PBRs) are of interest, due to their ability to synergistically combine catalytic and plasma chemical processes. In principle, these systems could be tuned to produce s...