CORONA-PLASMA TRIGGERED PSEUDOSPARK DISCHARGES

This paper reports on a novel pseudospark triggering technique using a corona-plasma electrode to feed initial electrons into one of the pse udospark hollow electrodes. This corona-plasma trigger can be used eit her at the cathode or anode side of the pseudospark, and it can be con nected as well to the high voltage electrode as to the grounded one. W ith this trigger scheme, a pseudospark switch working at pulse repetit ion frequencies (PRF) up to 100 Hz has been demonstrated in a continuo us mode of operation, while PRF as high as 1 kHz has been achieved in a burst mode. The cumulative number of pseudospark discharges triggere d with this technique is already above 5 10(7), and this corona-plas ma triggered pseudospark is still in operation without performance deg radation. The main advantage of this pseudospark triggering technique lies in its simultaneous simplicity and reliability allowing high repe tition rate, long lifetime, and the complete absence of keep-alive ele ctrode and standby power consumption.