Effect of the rise rate of nanosecond high-voltage pulses on the breakdownof air gaps

The breakdown velocity increases to 10-20 cm/ns when the leading edge of th e negative voltage pulse decreases to 0.5-2.5 ns. The sharp increase in the velocity can be explained by the appearance of a short-pulse beam of high- energy electrons which produce in the gap a sufficient number of initial el ectrons. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S1063-7850(99)02709-3].