Pulsed surface flashover across solid insulators in vacuum

The phenomenon of pulsed surface flashover is studied using a fast image converter camera. A still photograph of a surface flashover for a TiO2 test piece reveals that the breakdown path is a straight line perpendicular to the streak direction. It is found that visible light is initially emitted from the cathode and that the light front propagates at a constant speed of about 1 x 10 to the 7th m/s. The low luminous light is emitted up to the point where the gap is bridged by the bright light.