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Dependence of the transition from Townsend to glow discharge on secondary emission

Yu. P. Raizer·Ute Ebert·D. D. Sijacic
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Abstract

In a recent paper Sijacic and Ebert have systematically studied the transition from Townsend to glow discharge, refering to older work from von Engel (1934) up to Raizer (1991), and they stated a strong dependendence on secondary emission $γ$ from the cathode. We here show that the earlier results of von Engel and Raizer on the small current expansion about the Townsend limit actually are the limit of small $γ$ of the new expression; and that for larger $γ$ the old and the new results vary by no more than a factor of 2. We discuss the $γ$-dependence of the transition which is rather strong for short gaps.

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Yu. P. Raizer, Ute Ebert, D. D. Sijacic. 2004-03-02. Dependence of the transition from Townsend to glow discharge on secondary emission. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.70.017401

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