Ionization of hydrogen and nitrogen in an uniform magnetic field increasing with time

The temporal growth of electron density during the formation of ring discharges in damped oscillating strong magnetic fields has been studied. Discharges of this type can be produced in magnetic fields, generated by the discharge of a capacitor bank. The electron density shows characteristic jumps each time when the magnetic field passes through zero. Near zero the magnetic field depends linearly on time. The study of ionization can be limited to these time intervals, since for the rest of the time ionization seems.to be neglegible. The multiplication of the electron density has been measured in hydrogen and nitrogen by means of microwaves. A simplified interpretation of the results is given