Buildup of a Discharge in Argon

Abstract

Measurements were made of the rate of buildup of an electrical discharge in argon in the pressure range from 5 to 60 cm Hg. The results are interpreted on the basis of a secondary mechanism due to delayed photons. The photon delay times which fit the observed data are in the neighborhood of five microseconds over the range of pressures investigated. These photon delay times are compared with (a) calculated imprisonment times for resonance radiation, and (b) delay times for molecular radiation as observed by Colli. Considering the uncertainty in the calculations and the lack of knowledge about the energy distribution between the two main resonance lines, the imprisonment times are of the right magnitude to explain the observed buildup rates. The Colli-process delay times are in fair agreement with the data at the higher pressures; at the low pressures they are definitely too slow to explain the observed buildup rates.