Formation of the structure in the cathode region of non-self-sustained discharge in nitrogen

The formation of structure in the cathode region of non-self-sustained discharge in nitrogen was experimentally studied by means of an image-converter intensifier framing camera, Michelson and Mach-Zender interferometers and a laser schlieren method. The appearance and evolution of the mushroom-like glow structures, which have not been observed earlier in numerical discharge models, were seen. A phenomenological approach was used in modelling the observed structures and the main processes responsible for these formations were revealed on the basis of the density distribution restored from the interferograms.