Pulsed high-voltage discharge in air with a pressure gradient

Results of experiments on high-voltage discharges in air with a pressure gradient are presented. The experiments were carried out at the setup developed at the Institute of Applied Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences. The goal of the experiments was laboratory modeling of high-altitude atmospheric discharges―sprites and jets. The setup and diagnostic techniques are described. The experimental results include the distribution of the gas pressure in the vacuum chamber formed by means of pulsed air puffing, photographs of discharges in air with a pressure gradient, and the dependences of the discharge current and optical emission intensity on the initial conditions.