Longitudinal DC electric discharge in a supersonic air flow

A longitudinal dc electric discharge in a submerged high-pressure supersonic air jet is described. Photographs of the discharge are provided. The experimental voltage across the discharge gap and the discharge current are given for two resistances of the resistor that limits the discharge current over a certain range of the discharge channel length along the air flow. The current-voltage discharge characteristic is provided at a constant discharge length. The main discharge characteristics are obtained from a comparison of the experimental and theoretical results calculated on the basis of the simplest model.     

Effective area of energy interactions between the plasma of a deeply subcritical microwave discharge and its initiating electromagnetic field

Experiments on initiating electrical air discharge in an airtight radiotransparent volume have been described. The discharge is initiated by a quasi-optical linearly polarized microwave beam with a deeply subcritical field by means of an electromagnetic vibrator mounted above a screen. The results make it possible to calculate the effective area of energy interaction between the plasma of the discharge and its initiating microwave field. It has been shown that this area considerably exceeds the cross-sectional area of the discharge.     

Erratum to: Combustion Dynamics of a Propane–Air Gas Mixture When it is Ignited by a Streamer Microwave Discharge

Technical Physics - erratum     

Electromagnetic vibrator: An initiator of air breakdown in the subcritical field of a quasi-optical microwave beam

The subject of investigation is the resonance properties of cylindrical electromagnetic vibrators with different diameters and spherically rounded ends acting as initiators of air breakdown in the subcritical field of a quasi-optical microwave beam. The vibrator is placed both in the field of a traveling electromagnetic wave and at the antinode of the field above a screen inserted in the microwave beam. The shortening of the half-wave vibrator that governs its ability to initiate air breakdown, the field at the top-pole of this vibrator, and a tolerance on its resonance length are found from experimental data.     

Analysis of the composition and structure of aqueous media under excitation by lasers and light emitting diodes

We developed a method for detecting traces of foreign components in water and analyzing the microstructure of water. The method is based on studies of the characteristics of secondary emission arising in aqueous media under excitation by radiation of ultraviolet lasers and light emitting diodes. A new type of cuvette (capillary cuvettes) for studying the secondary emission in molecular media was elaborated. The cuvettes enable the study of aqueous solutions at small concentrations of the components; they enable one to recognize the type of molecular compound present in aqueous media, in view of the photoluminescence spectra.     

Microwave breakdown of air initiated by a short electromagnetic vibrator

The electrical breakdown of air (under a pressure from several tens of Torr to several hundreds of Torr) is initiated in a linearly polarized quasi-optical microwave beam using a rounded-end cylindrical metallic electromagnetic vibrator placed parallel to the electric component of the microwave field. The vibrator is much shorter than the wavelength of the field. The field strength at the top of the vibrator as a function of its length is determined. An empiric expression relating the field strength at the top with the vibrator length-to-diameter ratio is found for the vibrator length range studied. The practicability of locally measuring the field in a quasioptical microwave beam is substantiated. The idea is to determine the maximal air pressure at which electrical breakdown of air initiated by a short vibrator placed at a given point of the beam takes place.     

Ignition of a Fuel Mixture Using a Multipoint Pulsed Spark Discharge under Various Initial Conditions

Technical Physics - The development of efficient and reliable ignition systems for fuel mixtures is of interest for many practical applications associated with the use of combustion power plants....     

Combustion Dynamics of a Propane–Air Gas Mixture when It Is Ignited by a Streamer Microwave Discharge

Technical Physics - The results of experimental studies of combustion of propane–air gaseous mixture when it was ignited by a microwave discharge have been described. The mixture with...