Stepped form of negative corona current pulses in hydrogen

Current wave forms of initial stages of discharge formation in a short negative point-to-plane gap have been measured with a nanosecond time resolution in hydrogen at pressures (12.5–76) kPa and for various overvoltages and cathode point radii. The measurements revealed the existence of a stepped form of negative corona current pulses in hydrogen. To test existing models for negative corona pulse formation, effects of changing cathode secondary electron emission were studied using copper and brass cathodes coated by CuI and graphite. It is concluded that a negative corona pulse is associated with the ignition of a cathode-directed streamer in the vicinity of the cathode. We report what we believe are the first experimental observations of non-Trichel oscillations of negative corona current with a frequency of (1–10) MHz. This work was supported by the Scientific Grant Agency of the Ministry of Education and Academy of Sciences of Slovak Republic (Project No. 1/5190/98).