Speaker
Alexander Sidorov
Description
See the full Abstract at http://ocs.ciemat.es/EPS2018ABS/pdf/P4.4011.pdf
Gas breakdown in a focused beam of powerful sub-THz gyrotron
A. Sidorov, A. Kuftin, M. Morozkin, V. Malygin, S. Razin, A. Tsvetkov, A. Fokin, A.
Veselov, A. Vodopyanov, M. Glyavin
Institute of Applied Physics, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
The results of experimental and theoretical investigations of gas breakdown thresholds in a
focused beam of powerful sub-THz radiation are presented. The gas discharge, maintained
by the powerful radiation of terahertz frequency band, is a new specific object of gas
discharge physics. Its investigation became possible due to the creation of the powerful
sources of THz radiation – gyrotrons [1]. Up to now, several works have already appeared
which consider specific features of the development of these discharges in stationary gases
and non-uniform gas flow [2-3]. In the paper [4] the results of breakdown in argon by 1kW
CW radiation at 0.263 THz were presented. Due to the not so high power the breakdown was
observed only for noble gases and in presence of strong preionization. This paper presents the
experiments with pulsed gyrotron capable of generation 250 kW power at 0.25 THz
frequency. The gyrotron wave beam was focused by means of quasi-optical mirrors into the
spot with diameter less than 3 mm that provided intensity into the focal spot up to 3.5
MW/cm2. Achieved electrical field intensity was enough for gas breakdown into the range of
pressure values of 1-1500 Torr for various gases (argon, krypton, nitrogen, air). The
boundary values of field intensity for discharge existence were measured. Noble gases data
was compared to the analytical model of Raizer and Vyskrebentsev [5] for monatomic gases.
Data for air was compared with previous higher-frequency data.
References
[1] M.Yu. Glyavin, A.G. Luchinin, G.S. Nusinovich, J. Rodgers, D.G. Kashyn, C.A. Romero-Talamas, and
R.Pu, Applied Physics Letters 101, 153503 (2012)
[2] V.L. Bratman, V.G. Zorin, Yu.K. Kalynov, V.A. Koldanov, A.G. Litvak, S.V. Razin, A.V. Sidorov, and
V.A. Skalyga, Physics of Plasmas 18, 083507(2011)
[3] V.L. Bratman, S.V. Golubev, I.V. Izotov, Yu.K. Kalynov, V.A. Koldanov, A.G. Litvak, S.V. Razin, A.V.
Sidorov, V.A. Skalyga, and V.G. Zorin, Physics of Plasmas 20, 123512 (2013)
[4] A.V. Sidorov, S.V. Razin, A.I. Tsvetkov, A.P. Fokin, A.P. Veselov, S.V. Golubev, A.V. Vodopyanov, and
M.Yu. Glyavin, Proceedings of Progress In Electromagnetics Research Symposium — Spring (PIERS), St
Petersburg, Russia, 22–25 May, 2017, 2600-2602
[5] A.I. VyskrebentsevYu.P. Raizer, Journal of Applied Mechanics and Technical Physics 14, 32–38 (1973)
