Interferometry of the corona discharge

The authors consider the possibility of applying optical methods of registration of small changes in refractive index to the investigation of processes occurring during corona discharge in gases. The interferometry used makes it possible to determine changes in gas temperature on corona discharge for discharge gaps of ordinary geometry. The discharge occurred in coaxial and needle-plane systems of electrodes. In the latter case holographic methods for increasing the sensitivity of interference measurements were used for data collection. Application of the techniques mentioned above made it possible to determine the mean temperature of the gas in a coaxial system of electrodes, to observe the occurrence of a thin nonluminescent channel during the needle-plane corona discharge, and to make an estimate of the gas temperature in the discharge gap (which considerably exceeded that of the surrounding gas).<>