Double breakdown with external electrodes and unipolar voltage pulses

Summary form only given. Double breakdown with external electrodes and unipolar voltage pulses has been observed experimentally. A 50-mm-diameter Pyrex glass bulb is mounted midway between the plates of a parallel plate capacitor, to which a flat-topped pulse of voltage of amplitude V/sub A/ is applied. The flat top lasts 100 /spl mu/s and the trailing edge decays exponentially with a 100 /spl mu/s time constant. The bulb is filled with a Ne+2% Xe Penning mixture to a pressure of 2 Torr, and the occurrence of breakdown is detected by observing the bulb with a photomultiplier.