Effective area of energy interactions between the plasma of a deeply subcritical microwave discharge and its initiating electromagnetic field

Experiments on initiating electrical air discharge in an airtight radiotransparent volume have been described. The discharge is initiated by a quasi-optical linearly polarized microwave beam with a deeply subcritical field by means of an electromagnetic vibrator mounted above a screen. The results make it possible to calculate the effective area of energy interaction between the plasma of the discharge and its initiating microwave field. It has been shown that this area considerably exceeds the cross-sectional area of the discharge.