The glow discharge inception and post-discharge relaxation of charged and neutral active particles in synthetic air at low pressure

Abstract

The study of dc glow discharge inception and post-discharge relaxation of charged and neutral active particles in synthetic air at low pressure is presented. The breakdown time delay dependence as a function of relaxation time (the memory curve) is measured and modelled from milliseconds to the saturation region determined by the cosmic rays and natural radioactivity level. Due to fast conversion , relaxation of dc discharge in synthetic air in the time interval from one to about ninety milliseconds is dominated by the diffusion decay of molecular oxygen ions. The change of regimes, from ambipolar to the free diffusion limit, is investigated and the variation of effective diffusion coefficients is determined. The late relaxation is explained by the kinetics of nitrogen atoms, recombining on the surfaces of gas discharge tube and stainless steel electrodes and relevant surface recombination coefficients are determined.