Computer modeling of electrical breakdown in a pulsed dielectric barrier discharge in xenon

Computer modeling of the plasma kinetics in a short-pulse excited dielectric barrier discharge in Xe has been used to simulate the spatial-temporal evolution of the homogeneous plasma during the electrical breakdown phase. The breakdown coincides with the development of a streamer-like ionization wavefront propagating toward the cathode at /spl sim/10/sup 5/ ms/sup -1/.