Electromagnetic vibrator: An initiator of air breakdown in the subcritical field of a quasi-optical microwave beam

The subject of investigation is the resonance properties of cylindrical electromagnetic vibrators with different diameters and spherically rounded ends acting as initiators of air breakdown in the subcritical field of a quasi-optical microwave beam. The vibrator is placed both in the field of a traveling electromagnetic wave and at the antinode of the field above a screen inserted in the microwave beam. The shortening of the half-wave vibrator that governs its ability to initiate air breakdown, the field at the top-pole of this vibrator, and a tolerance on its resonance length are found from experimental data.