Plasma Diffuse Jet in Dielectric Tube as the Laboratory Analogue of Red Sprites

In this paper the conditions for runaway electrons generation in streamer discharges are both theoretically and experimentally investigated. The discharge ignition is performed in a long quartz tube with external ring electrodes filled with low-pressure air. Gas pressure of 1 Torr is corresponding to the sea-level altitude of ≈47 km and falls within a range of 40–90 km, typical for red sprites observation. It is shown that the streamer discharge is ignited on the front of dielectric barrier discharge and plasma diffuse jet propagating towards the grounded collector is formed. The conditions for runaway electrons generation in gas-filled dielectric tube with external electrodes have been implemented. The spatio-temporal distribution of electron density, as well as energy distribution of electrons along the symmetry axis of tube, are obtained. It is shown that the highest values of reduced electric field and of electron kinetic energy are observed on the front of streamer at the trailing edge of voltage pulse.