Experimental analysis of reduced electric field during time-variable pulsed dielectric barrier discharge

Time-variable pulsed dielectric barrier discharges in open air have been investigated to calculate the reduced electric field at breakdown using a simple electrical circuit. In this calculation, charges accumulated on the dielectric surface before discharge breakdown, were integrated to measure gap voltage and reduced electric field. Experimental result showed that in the case of pulse discharge, the gap voltage at pulsed breakdown experimentally showed a Paschen curve with decreasing gap distance. The simulation result obtained using the Boltzmann equation solver shows that the electron energy distribution changed with gap voltage and reduced electric field. We also conclude that pulse rise time plays an important role in determining reduced electric field, and finally electron energy.