Simulation of electrooptical measurements of prebreakdown electric fields in water. Part1. The electric field near the anode streamer

The paper deals with the processing and analysis of the results of electro-optical studies of the pre-breakdown stage of an electric discharge in water using the Kerr effect. For this, the first chronogram was selected, obtained in the process of electro-optical chronographic research of water breakdown. In this work, it was possible to explain not only the features of the chronogram but also to obtain an estimate of the intensity of the appearance of the anode streamer in water E ~ 40-50 MV/cm. Using the method of computer simulation in the point-plane system near the anode point, the distributions of the electric field strength and the phase difference were constructed. The calculations were carried out both at a constant relative permittivity and its nonlinear dependence on the electric field strength. It turned out that dipole saturation is observed near the tip. As a result, the Kerr bands become denser and, at a spatial resolution of the recording equipment of 30 μm, in the pre-measuring zone, they are not recorded on the chronogram.