Paper

Analyzing x-ray emissions from meter-scale negative discharges in ambient air

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Published 27 May 2016 © 2016 IOP Publishing Ltd
, , Special Issue on Fast Pulsed Discharges Citation Pavlo Kochkin et al 2016 Plasma Sources Sci. Technol. 25 044002 DOI 10.1088/0963-0252/25/4/044002

0963-0252/25/4/044002

Abstract

When voltage pulses of 1 MV drive meter long air discharges, short and intense bursts of x-rays are measured. Here we develop a model for electron acceleration and subsequent photon generation within this discharge to understand these bursts. We start from the observation that the encounter of two streamers of opposite polarity launches the electrons, that they are further accelerated in the discharge field and then lose their energy, e.g., by photon emission through Bremsstrahlung. We model electron and photon dynamics in space and energy with a Monte Carlo model. Also the detector response to incoming photons is modelled in detail. The model justifies the approximation that the x-ray bursts are isotropic in space; this assumption is used to conclude that x-ray bursts near the high-voltage electrode with $6\centerdot {{10}^{4}}$ photons and characteristic energies of 160 keV closely reproduce the measured spectra and attenuation curves. The nanosecond duration of the bursts as well as their energy spectrum is consistent with model calculations.

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10.1088/0963-0252/25/4/044002