Study of the Mechanism of Filamentation of Nanosecond Surface Barrier Discharge. Part 1. Local Field Approximation

The applicability of the previously proposed mechanism of filamentation of a surface barrier discharge in nitrogen by a nanosecond voltage pulse of positive polarity to the description of a similar process in nitrogen and air in the case of a pulse of negative polarity is studied numerically. The calculation results show that in this case, in nitrogen and air, there are also signs of the successful simulation of the filamentation effect, but at the same time, the overall dynamics of the discharge development differs qualitatively from that observed in the experiment. It is assumed that the origin of the unsuccessful simulation is the roughness of the local field approximation used in regions with sharp electron density gradients inherent to the filamentation zone.