Optical Studies of a Supersonic Underwater Plasma Discharge Pressure Source

Following the work successfully presented at the 9th EAPPC, Seoul, 2022, the present paper details complementary optical studies on the supersonic underwater plasma discharge performed with a SIMX8 multi-frame ultrahigh speed camera, at frame rates up to 100 million frames/second. The studies revealed important characteristics of the plasma streamer dynamics, such as when the streamers are first generated, the speed at which they propagate across the inter-electrode gap and the moment the central plasma column is formed. The studies help in understanding the physics of this particular type of supersonic discharge and thus allowed optimizing the pressure source.