THE TEMPORARY CHARACTERISTICS OF VACUUM DISCHARGE WITH LASER IGNITION

A study was made of the switching process of a vacuum discharger ignited by a pulsed solid-state laser operating in the Q-switched mode. The dependence of the response time on the energy of the igniting pulse of laser radiation and the thermodynamic characteristics of the target material has been demonstrated. On the basis of the experimental data, it was suggested that under the action of a laser pulse in the erosion products of the electrodes an initial glow discharge is ignited, which, as a result of the development of ionization-superheating instability, undergoes a contraction of the current channel and turns into an arc channel.