Study of breakdown in yttrium aluminum garnet at subnanosecond times of increasing voltage

Crystallographically oriented channels with bottlenecks in the regions of reflection of the pulses have been obtained in aluminum yttrium garnet during multipulsed nanosecond breakdown from the anode under voltages of 100–140 kV, and the propagation rate of the fronts of the phase transition in this voltage range has been determined. It has been shown that the character of the observed pattern of the sequential formation of separate chains of the complete breakdown structure indicates that the channel is formed only locally and immediately at the point of time of passing the breakdown front since the maximal field strength, the magnitude of which determines the diameter of the breakdown channel, is observed in the vicinity of the breakdown front.