Breakdown mechanism of a laser triggered spark gap in a uniform field gap

Breakdown mechanism of a laser triggered spark gap was studied in a uniform field gap. The laser beam was focused on the electrode with positive and negative polarities, and vaporized metal plasma produced by the laser irradiation was used as a trigger. Our investigation shows that the breakdown characteristics in the uniform field are essentially different from those of a needle-to-plane gap, and also shows different characteristics under positive and negative polarities.