Formation of Miniature Analogs of Bead Lightning in Nitrogen and Air during Pulsed Discharge in Nonuniform Electric Field

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The discharge glow dynamics during a nanosecond breakdown of air and nitrogen initiated by runaway electrons in a point–plane gap is studied with an ICCD camera. The formation of plasma bunches forming a structure analogous to a bead lightning is observed. It is shown that the number of bright plasma bunches in the gap (individual beads) increases with pressure. Up to four individual beads of equal size have been recorded in nitrogen at a pressure of 0.4 MPa.