"X-ray Bursts Produced By Laboratory Sparks In Air" by Joseph R. Dwyer, Hamid K. Rassoul et al.
 

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Geophysical Research Letters

Abstract

X-ray observations were made during fourteen 1.5 to 2.0 m high-voltage discharges in air produced by a 1.5 MV Marx circuit. All 14 discharges generated x-rays in the ∼30 to 150 keV range. The x-rays, which arrived in discrete bursts, less than 0.5 microseconds in duration, occurred from both positive and negative polarity rod-to-plane discharges as well as from small, 5-10 cm series spark gaps within the Marx generator. The x-ray bursts usually occurred when either the voltages across the gaps were the largest or were in the process of collapsing. The bursts are remarkably similar to the x-ray bursts previously observed from lightning. These results should allow for the detailed laboratory study of runaway breakdown, a mechanism that may play a role in thunderstorm electrification, lightning initiation and propagation, and terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs).

DOI

10.1029/2005GL024027

Publication Date

2005

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