Investigation of the redistribution of the current in a nanosecond volume discharge after the appearance of a cathode spot

An investigation was made of the process of contraction of a nanosecond volume discharge in air with a homogeneous field distribution and a current density 500 A/cm² when the gap was 0.7 cm and the pressure 76 torr. It was found that the appearance of a cathode spot in this volume discharge resulted in an effective contraction of the current into a spot and formation of a diffuse channel. A high-conductivity channel emerging from the cathode spot appeared when the current density in the diffusion channel above this spot reached (1–3)·10⁵ A/cm².Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 1, pp. 16–18, January, 1981.