Inception and Growth of Electrodeless Double-Headed Streamer Discharges at atmospheric pressure

This poster introduces an innovative experimental model that replicates the natural atmospheric phenomenon of double-headed streamers (DHS) in a lab at ground pressure. It's the first to mimic the inception of an electrodeless DHS, reflecting observations from the atmospheric electricity community [1]. Using guided ionization waves from an Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Jet (APPJ), the experiment achieved high reproducibility and predictability in DHS formation. The method created conditions consistent with key assumptions, such as an initial preionized column of free charges before breakdown [2], aligning with various simulation results in literature [2, 3]. Distinct positive and negative streamers were observed, propagating simultaneously from the breakdown point. The discharge's stability enabled advanced diagnostics, including time- and space-resolved optical emission spectroscopy, facilitating the first measurements of velocity growth, gas temperature, and electric field of a DHS [4]. The electric field data confirmed the identification of the streamers and revealed that DHS can ignite under sub-breakdown conditions, emphasizing the crucial role of preionization.

[1] Pasko VP, Inan US, Bell TF. Geophys Res Lett. 1998;25(12):2123–6.

[2] Liu N, Kosar B, Sadighi S, Dwyer JR, Rassoul HK. Phys Rev Lett. 2012;109(2):025002.

[3] Luque A, Ratushnaya V, Ebert U. J Phys D: Appl Phys. 2008;41(23):234005.

[4] Iséni S, Sretenović GB, Kovačević VV, Bonifaci N, et al. Phys Rev E. 2025;111(2):L023202.