Positive double-pulse streamers: how pulse-to-pulse delay influences initiation and propagation of subsequent discharges

Residual charges and species created by previous streamers have a great impact on the characteristics of the next discharge. This is especially pronounced in repetitively pulsed discharges, where the physical and chemical reactions during the decay phase play a very important role. We have performed double-pulse streamer experiments in artificial air and pure nitrogen with a varying pulse delay (Δt) from 0.45 μs to 20 ms. We have observed morphological transformations of the 2nd-pulse streamer as a function of Δt and classified six typical stages by streamer length. The propagation distance of the 2nd-pulse streamer can be 66% l