High-speed imaging of the pulsed-field flashover of an alumina ceramic in vacuum

An intensified high-speed imaging technique was used to observe the optical events associated with the pulsed-field breakdown of an alumina ceramic tube having two concentric planar electrodes metalized onto its end face. HV pulses, typically of 5 kV amplitude (5 kV μs ^-1 rate of rise), were applied to the radial MIM insulator-electrode regime under ultrahigh vacuum (pressure <5×10^-7 Pa), with video recordings made at 1000 frames per second. Images of the observed breakdown phenomena are presented, viewed both along the center axis and also in the plane of the MIM structure. These breakdown images are discussed in relation to plasma jets associated with vacuum arcs and, in particular, on the nature of the ion species within such jets