高压多脉冲真空间隙击穿实验研究

 在真空间隙击穿机理的理论基础上,设计了高压多脉冲下真空间隙的击穿实验方案,对相同材料的多对电极间隙在高压单脉冲和三脉冲下的真空击穿特性进行了实验研究。实验结果与脉冲下真空间隙的击穿机理相符,对脉冲数量增加对真空间隙宏观击穿场强的影响进行了验证,推断出了决定真空间隙宏观击穿场强的关键因素,并对多脉冲加速间隙最大宏观场强的设计提出了建议。     

Arc voltage of a fast triggered vacuum gap

At high current, the performance of triggered vacuum gaps (TVGs) is limited by constriction of the vacuum arc. Several concentrated modes can be defined, i.e., foot point, anode spot, and intense arc mode. In all cases, small, luminous, high-temperature spots (from melting to boiling temperature) appear on the anode surface. In accordance with the anodic mode, the arc voltage has different characteristics (quiet and low or with high-frequency noise). The arc voltage is measured for different electrode configurations for a conduction time of 27 μs and for peak current up to 45 kA. For small gap distances (1-1.5 mm), the arc voltage is quiet and low (20 to 30 V) and almost independent of the peak current. For greater distances, the arc voltage increases with the distance and the peak current. If the peak current is higher than the threshold interruption current, the arc voltage is high and noisy. These overvoltages, with a frequency of about one megahertz, can reach more than 1000 V. These overvoltages disappear completely after about 15 μs, and the voltage decreases     

Switching during pulsed breakdown of an air-filled gap in the nanosecond range

An experimental study has been made of the effect of various factors on the length and nature of the switching process during the pulsed breakdown of air-filled gaps in the nanosecond range. Practical recommendations are given for choosing optimum conditions for sharpening the pulse front.     

Electrical breakdown of the space vacuum

The insulating properties of the vacuum of space are examined in this paper. Generic electrode configurations are introduced to calculate the leakage current to the electrodes and the breakdown potential of the “space-vacuum” as a function of altitude above ground. The condition that defines the breakdown threshold is dependent on the size of the sheath, r_L-B, relative to the interelectrode separation, r_c. Results for the leakage currents and breakdown voltage are presented for both cases r_L-B>r_e and r_L-Be, and discussed in the context of space power systems and the SPEAR Program in particular     

Cathodic initiation of breakdown in vacuum under a constant voltage

Cathodic initiation is proposed as a model of breakdown under vacuum, such a breakdown assumed here to be due to cathode heating and disintegration as a result of a spontaneous thermal emission current with a high density. An emitter is considered here in the shape of a cylindrical or conical stub with the height H and, on the basis of its heat balance, sufficiently simple and convenient-to-use formulas are derived which relate the critical electric field intensity E_k with the thermophysical as well as the geometrical parameters of such an emitter. Known test values of E_k are then used for determining the heights and the maximum temperatures of such stubs at which a stable emitter performance is still possible.     

Electromagnetic tornado in the vacuum gap of a pulsar

The solution for an electromagnetic tornado that describes the motion in the discharge filament of breakdown in the vacuum gap of a pulsar has been obtained. This solution can serve as an explanation of the observed circular polarization of giant radiation pulses from pulsars.     

Mass gap without vacuum energy

We consider soft nonlocal deformations of massless theories that introduce a mass gap. By use of a renormalization scheme that preserves the ultraviolet softness of the deformation, renormalized quantities of low mass dimension, such as normal mass terms, vanish via finite counterterms. The same applies to the renormalized cosmological constant. We connect this discussion to gauge theories, since they are also subject to a soft nonlocal deformation due to the effects of Gribov copies. These effects are softer than usually portrayed.     

Effect of vacuum conditions on breakdown voltage between electrodes in vacuum

The electrical breakdown in vacuum was studied in the configuration: wire —plane. Measurements were performed in two different experimental systems: with technical vacuum and with the clean one. It was found that the value of breakdown voltage decreases with increasing vacuum and that at the same pressure the insulating properties of electrodes are better in the technical vacuum than in the oilless one.     

Sculpting the vacuum in a photonic band gap micro-chip

We describe the engineering of the electromagnetic vacuum in a 2D–3D photonic bandgap (PBG) hetero-structure. This facilitates the development of novel active devices and the observation of novel quantum electrodynamic phenomena. We consider a specific architecture suitable as an all-optical micro-transistor capable of novel ultra-fast response with low switching power requirements. This relies on a unique collective atomic switching and population inversion achieved by coherent resonant pumping in a suitably engineered vacuum. Specific waveguide architectures within the 3D PBG micro-chip provide local density-of-states (LDOS) peaks near their cutoff frequency. These provide “building blocks” for electromagnetic vacuum engineering without recourse to conventional high Q-factor micro-cavities. For the all-optical micro-transistor, a fork shape LDOS within the micro-chip is desirable, using trimodal waveguide architecture. We delineate the functional robustness of these architectures to disorder caused by manufacturing errors within the PBG micro-chip.     

Initiation of vacuum breakdown and failure mechanism of the carbon nanotube during thermal field emission

The carbon nanotube(CNT)-based materials can be used as vacuum device cathodes. Owing to the excellent field emission properties of CNT, it has great potentials in the applications of an explosive field emission cathode. The falling off of CNT from the substrate, which frequently appears in experiments, restricts its application. In addition, the onset time of vacuum breakdown limits the performance of the high-power explosive-emission-cathode-based diode. In this paper, the characteristics of the CNT, electric field strength, contact resistance and the kind of substrate material are varied to study the parameter effects on the onset time of vacuum breakdown and failure mechanism of the CNT by using the finite element method.     

Initial stage of discharge current growth in a triggered vacuum gap

The dynamics of light emission accompanying the initial stage of electric discharge in a substantially undervoltaged vacuum gap was studied with a knock-down model using high-speed photorecording. Voltage across the gap was maintained within the range of 0.5-5 kV, which corresponded to the minimum operating voltage of vacuum-triggered gaps. It was found that front layers of a plasma cloud near a cathode, formed by a firing pulse, scattered at a speed of (5-8)×10⁶ cm/s. During firing, a channel directed to the opposite electrode was formed from the plasma cloud near the cathode. It was found that the average switch-on delay time of the triggered vacuum gap is ~d(1+h/d) I_f^-α, where d is the interelectrode gap length, h is the trigger assembly penetration height, and I_f is the firing current     

Mechanism responsible for initiating carbon nanotube vacuum breakdown

We report a physical mechanism responsible for initiating a vacuum breakdown process of a single carbon nanotube (CNT) during field emission. A quasidynamic method has been developed to simulate the breakdown process and calculate the critical field, critical emission current density and critical temperature beyond which thermal runaway occurs before the CNT temperature reaches its melting point. This model is in good agreement with experiments carried out with a single CNT on a silicon microtip.     

Reduction of breakdown potential of air on intense irradiation of a discharge gap

Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Spektroskopii, Vol. 56, No. 1, pp. 107–111, January, 1992.     

微机电系统微尺度间隙的脉冲击穿特性

利用微机电系统(MEMS)工艺制备了5~40 m间隙的金属铝薄膜电极,测取了不同间隙下施加纳秒方波脉冲时的击穿电压,得到击穿电压和平均场强随电极间隙的变化规律,研究了脉宽、极性对击穿电压的影响,结合击穿后微电极扫描电镜观察结果讨论了其击穿机理,并与相同试样在直流下的结果进行了对比。研究表明:击穿电压随微间隙距离的增大而增大,击穿场强则随着间隙的增大迅速减小;与直流同间隙的击穿电压相比,脉冲作用下的击穿电压并不像宏观尺度下那样高出很多;试样击穿机理应为流注理论。在脉冲作用下,阳极出现了分层熔化现象,由于作用时间很短,阳极表面并未出现类似于直流击穿时留下的坑洞;阴极则出现了溅射沉积现象,只是沉积物质相对较少。     

微机电系统微尺度间隙的脉冲击穿特性

利用微机电系统(MEMS)工艺制备了5~40 m间隙的金属铝薄膜电极,测取了不同间隙下施加纳秒方波脉冲时的击穿电压,得到击穿电压和平均场强随电极间隙的变化规律,研究了脉宽、极性对击穿电压的影响,结合击穿后微电极扫描电镜观察结果讨论了其击穿机理,并与相同试样在直流下的结果进行了对比。研究表明:击穿电压随微间隙距离的增大而增大,击穿场强则随着间隙的增大迅速减小;与直流同间隙的击穿电压相比,脉冲作用下的击穿电压并不像宏观尺度下那样高出很多;试样击穿机理应为流注理论。在脉冲作用下,阳极出现了分层熔化现象,由于作用时间很短,阳极表面并未出现类似于直流击穿时留下的坑洞;阴极则出现了溅射沉积现象,只是沉积物质相对较少。     

The diffuse and channel stages in the overvoltage breakdown of a gas gap

An interrupted discharge has been used to examine the production of light in the breakdown of an overvoltage gas gap in air under conditions of E/p = 90–110 V/cm-mm Hg. It is found that there are two types of discharge, the type being dependent on the number of initial electrons: diffuse when there are many electrons and of channel type when there is a single initiating electron. The observed voltage-fall curves for the first type of discharge agree well with theoretical ones derived from the avalanche theory. A study has been made of the dependence of the delay time and switching time on the relative intensity of the illumination used to produce the initial electrons.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii Fizika, No. 9, pp. 45–49, September, 1971.We are indebted to Dr. G. A. Mesyats for proposing the problem and discussing the results.