Work

Experimental study of argon gas breakdown with symmetric and asymmetric electrode configurations

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Paschen’s law relates the breakdown voltage ( $V_B$ ) of a gas to the product of the gas pressure ( $p$ ) and the inter-electrode distance ( $d$ ), predicting a characteristic minimum breakdown voltage at a specific $pd$ value. In this study, the roles of electrode configurations (symmetric and asymmetric) and inter-electrode spacing on gas breakdown processes (or Paschen’s law) are examined. Numerous sets of experiments are performed with both symmetric and asymmetric electrode configurations of different sizes to obtain Paschen curves at different inter-electrode distances. The experimentally obtained Paschen’s curves for different electrode configurations are fitted using a proposed modified empirical relation for $V_B$ , incorporating variable power-law dependencies and fitting parameters to better capture the observed deviations. Upon closer inspection, we observed that the breakdown voltage ( $V_B$ ) and the corresponding $pd$ value ( $pd_{\min}$ ) are influenced by both electrode configurations and inter-electrode discharge gap. The variation in $V_B$ and $pd_{\min}$ for different electrode configurations is explained by analysing the electric field distributions between the electrodes (cathode and anode) for an applied voltage.

Source: Journal of Plasma Physics

DOI: 10.1017/s0022377826101548

Authors: P. Hridya, Mangilal Choudhary

Institution: University of Delhi

Language: English

Topic: Vacuum and Plasma Arcs

Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,550

Funder: University of Delhi