Hi all,
as I was rereading some DPF papers it occurred to me that one of the goals seem to be enhancing the electrodes’ charge before plasma forms. And then releasing the charge the moment plasma short-circuits the gap between electrodes. This would result in a steeper increase of dI/dt. The same is accomplished with faster switches (spark gaps).
Using a semiconductor as coating of the copper electrodes would give you a switch which is “off” (high resistance) as long as no current is flowing (plasma not formed yet), and “on” (low resistance) as electrons are running across the gap (plasma formed and accelerating).
I think, coating the anode very thinly with a highly doted semiconductor might do the trick.
The following requirements must be met. This list is not complete, and I don’t know whether there are any semiconductors around, which capable at all.
– The resistance is reasonably low as current runs.
– The coating does not blast off, because of the heat which is produced by the additional resistance.
– There are not too many stray electrons which slip into the semiconductor’s quantum gaps. There are some, that’s why the anode should be heavely doted.
Maybe it is not feasible or might not work at all. But maybe we are in luck and it works out.
Cheers,
Henning
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