Ionizing waves were produced along the positive column of a glow discharge in air by applying an impulse voltage to an electrode at one end of the column. Five photomultipliers and three current‐sensing coils were used to observe how the waves were affected by the rise time and the magnitude of the applied impulses and by the electron density in the positive column of the glow discharge. It is shown that the speed of the ionizing waves increases with the slope of the applied impulses and with the preexisting electron density. The electron density is augmented about 100–200 times due to the buildup of ionization at the front of the waves. The theory was developed to explain the property of ionizing waves.
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