The trigger pulse causes surface flashover, which liberates electrons and vaporized surface discharge material into the inter-electrode gap, which facilitates formation of a vacuum arc, closing the switch.
12.
Having combined the drums with the drum machine, another important feature of the CR-78 was that it could be used to send a trigger pulse to the early polyphonic synthesizers.
13.
A cascade of spark gaps allows to use a weak trigger pulse to initiate a streamer in the smaller gap, wait for its transition into an arc, and then for this arc to extend into the larger gap.
14.
An extremely high voltage pulse, ( usually between 2000 and 150, 000 volts ), the " trigger pulse ", is applied either directly to or very near the glass envelope . ( Water-cooled flashtubes sometimes apply this pulse directly to the cooling water, and often to the housing of the unit as well, so care must be taken with this type of system . ) The short, high voltage pulse creates a rising electrostatic field, which ionizes the gas inside the tube.
15.
The streamers propagate via capacitance along the glass at a speed of 1 centimeter in 60 nanoseconds ( 170 km / s ) . ( A trigger pulse must have a long enough duration to allow one streamer to reach the opposite electrode, or erratic triggering will result . ) The triggering can be enhanced by applying the trigger pulse to a " reference plane ", which may be in the form of a metal band or reflector affixed to the glass, a conductive paint, or a thin wire wrapped around the length of the lamp.
16.
The streamers propagate via capacitance along the glass at a speed of 1 centimeter in 60 nanoseconds ( 170 km / s ) . ( A trigger pulse must have a long enough duration to allow one streamer to reach the opposite electrode, or erratic triggering will result . ) The triggering can be enhanced by applying the trigger pulse to a " reference plane ", which may be in the form of a metal band or reflector affixed to the glass, a conductive paint, or a thin wire wrapped around the length of the lamp.
