Study of plasma breakdown by Stark spectroscopy

Plasma breakdown is the process that occurs when a voltage is applied across an electrode gap. One of the key features occurring during breakdown is propagation of an ionisation front across the discharge volume. The aim of our research is to understand the physics of breakdown processes on a sub-nanosecond timescale. Stark spectroscopy of gas atoms will be used to measure electric field distributions during breakdown. In this paper we present the measurement method and experimental arrangement for this study.