Reduction of high power microwave breakdown delay times using multiple passes through a TE111 resonator

Summary form only given. The delay time between the rising edge of a high power microwave (HPM) pulse and plasma formation in a gas at close to atmospheric pressure is studied for a multi-pass geometry. A fundamental lower limit of the breakdown delay time is the formative delay time, defined as the time it takes for the exponentially rising electron density to reach the critical electron density for which the EM wave begins to reflect and attenuate; which is on the order of 10´s to 100´s of nanoseconds for the conditions of interest. The goal of this research was to surpass this limit by making two passes through the generated plasma with the HPM pulse. That is, an external structure is utilized to time delay the HPM pulse on itself for a second pass through a gas cell.