Recovery phenomena in pseudospark discharge

We present in this study an investigation of the recovery phenomena in pseudospark switches. In our experimentation, after a pulse current of 18 kA and 225 /spl mu/s duration, the rate of reapplied voltage is of 18 kV//spl mu/s and the peak of withstand voltage is of 18 kV. This ability depends strongly on external parameters, like pressure, the main gap and the polarity of the reapplied voltage after the current quenching. But the two principal parameters are the rate of current at the time quenching and the electrodes conditioning. We obtain the best results with a high number of shots (100 to 200 shots).