X-rays from negative laboratory sparks in air: Influence of the anode geometry

In this experimental work, the influence of the grounded anode geometry is studied on the X-ray production from the laboratory sparks in air at atmospheric pressure when a negative impulse voltage is applied to a high voltage rod which served as a cathode. The result shows that the smaller the diameter of the anode, the higher the energy of X-ray bursts. This observation can be explained by the mechanism that the encounter of negative and positive streamer fronts just before the final breakdown is the event that accelerates electrons to X-ray generating energies, but may not be the only mechanism that generates X-rays.