Air breakdown times of two-stage spark gaps and their applications

The air breakdown times of second spark formation, geometrically in series with trigatron switching, are studied and compared to that of a triggered spark gap. Despite a large breakdown jitter of ⩾1 μs in the trigatron, the latter is not observed to affect the electrical closure times of the series-connected second spark gap, which is triggered largely as a result of their direct electrical and optical coupling. While most of the multistage spark gaps are designed for fast and precision switching of high voltages, the air breakdown times of the second spark formation find a number of useful applications, particularly in achieving uniform glow discharge in pulsed gas lasers