Diffuse mode and diffuse-to-filamentary transition in a high pressure nanosecond scale corona discharge under high voltage

The dynamics of a point-to-plane corona discharge induced in high pressure air under nanosecond scale high overvoltage is investigated. The electrical and optical properties of the discharge can be described in space and time with fast and precise current measurements coupled to gated and intensified imaging. Under atmospheric pressure, the discharge exhibits a diffuse pattern like a multielectron avalanche propagating through a direct field ionization mechanism. The diffuse regime can exist since the voltage rise time is much shorter than the characteristic time of the field screening effects, and as long as the local field is higher than the critical ionization field in air. As one of these conditions is not fulfilled, the discharge turns into a multi-channel regime and the diffuse-to-filamentary transition strongly depends on the overvoltage, the point-to-plane gap length and the pressure. When pressure is increased above atmospheric pressure, the diffuse stage and its transition to streamers seem to satisfy similarity rules as the key parameter is the reduced critical ionization field only. However, above 3 bar, neither diffuse avalanche nor streamer filaments are observed but a kind of streamer-leader regime, due to the fact that mechanisms such as photoionization and heat diffusion are not similar to pressure.