Vacuum breakdown with microsecond delay time (interrupters)

The delay time of voltage breakdown has been analyzed as a function of the time interval to preceding interruption of high currents. With intervals >1 ms the behavior of the gap corresponded to cold electrodes. For this case, in a separate experiment, the dependence of the delay time on various parameters has been studied. At constant voltage a steep increased with the gap distance was found. This leads to the conclusion that field emission rather than a clump process is responsible for late breakdowns.<
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