Rates and channels of water ionization by a high-current high-voltage pulsed discharge

The experimentally observed growth of the plasma density in a high-current high-voltage pulsed discharge in a liquid medium is compared with the results of calculations based on the effective cross sections for electron-impact ionization and other elementary processes. It is found that, in the initial stage of the discharge, the plasma density grows linearly with time, whereas at densities above 3 × 1010 cm−3, the growth becomes exponential due to the collective acceleration of plasma electrons. The gas-vapor fraction of the water medium is ionized by two groups of electrons: low-energy electrons, with energies about several tens of electronvolts, and high-energy ones, with energies in the kiloelectronvolt range. The energy spent on water ionization is estimated and is found to be several times higher than the energy required to ionize a rarefied gas.