On the dynamics of a subnanosecond breakdown in nitrogen below atmospheric pressures

摘要

The dynamics of a breakdown in a gas-filled diode with a highly inhomogeneous electric field was studied in experiments at a time resolution of ~ 100 ps and in numerical simulation by the 2D axisym-metric particle-in-cell (PIC) code XOOPIC. The diode was filled with nitrogen at pressures of up to 100Torr. The dynamics of the electric field distribution in the diode during the breakdown was analyzed, and the factors that limit the pulse duration of the runaway electron beam current at different pressures were determined.