Gas discharge in thin gaps filled with argon and nitrogen at cryogenic temperatures

It is established that the cooling of argon-or nitrogen-filled microdischarge devices to cryogenic temperatures significantly affects the threshold potential of discharge initiation. For a discharge in the nitrogenfilled gap with a brass cathode, this effect can be explained by a decrease in the secondary electron emission coefficient, while the influence of cooling on the argon-filled gap has a more complicated nature. The results are of importance for the development of cryogenic microdischarge devices.