The mechanism of branching structure formation on Sprite like streamer discharge in laboratory

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Sprite is a characteristic discharge phenomena observed in upper atmosphere. It has diffuse and branching structure simultaneously. Sprite like discharge structures were created in laboratory experiment using a UV laser for controlling pre-ionization distribution. In order to understand the mechanism of the branching formation, the Sprite like discharge was focused. The branching was influenced by the density of pre-ionization created by a UV laser irradiation. Applying a fast-framing camera that can acquire 10^<9> frames per second, detailed growing phenomena of streamer was firstly observed. The suppression of branching in the relatively higher pre-ionized region and autonomous propagation phenomena suggested that the origin of the branching is similar to growing surface phenomena.