BEAMS
In the literature: open
Why conditioning progresses with number of RF pulses, not breakdowns
In plain words
New structures reach high fields only after a slow initial period of operation called conditioning. Data suggest the improvement tracks how many pulses were applied, not how many sparks occurred, and the reason is unclear.
Precise statement
In CLIC-type X-band structures the achievable gradient at fixed BDR improves with accumulated RF pulse count rather than accumulated breakdown count. Identify the material change during conditioning (work hardening, dislocation structure evolution, surface contaminant removal) and give a model that predicts the conditioning curve $E(N_{pulses})$ for a given material state.
What would settle it
Microstructural measurements on structures stopped at successive conditioning stages, compared with the predicted evolution of the defect population.
Related problems
- Special case of Origin of the steep power-law scaling of breakdown rate · Conditioning curve is one part of the main breakdown-rate scaling problem