211002-1529 EDT
electrofelon:
I can not answer your question, but I will make some comments on switching a load.
My reference on gaseous discharge is "Fundamentals of Engineering Electronics", 2nd Edition, 1952, by William G. Dow, University of Michigan. This book is largely on electron tubes, but does cover other related areas. Dow was a very important person to the U of M. He was probably responsible for bringing billions of research dollars to Michigan, he live to somewhat more than 100, and when he was on one of his walks in my neighborhood in his late 90s he still remember me from 50 years earlier.
Dow has a chapter, XV, on Current Flow in Gases in this book, Figure 15,1 illustrates some volt-ampere characteristics for gaseous conduction.
Real world circuits will virtually always at least include resistance, inductance, capacitance, an energy source, and a switch. In a simple analysis some components may be ignored.
If you consider a simple battery, switch, resistance, and inductance series circuit, then you will find that upon opening the switch that exactly the same current magnitude will flow in the same direction as before the switch was opened. Assuming nothing else in the circuit. then a spark or arc discharge must occur in the switch or somewhere to provide a conductive path. In the real world there will be some capacitance present. If the voltage source is a sine wave, then there are natural times when current goes to zero. In a DC powered circuit there is no voltage source zero crossing, and current flow has to exist until all stored energy is dissipated.
In an AC circuit current flow will continue until the first current zero crossing. and in some cases for more than 1/2 cycle.
In your case you want your switch to open fast and over a great enough distance to try to quench the spark or arc within 1/2 cycle. Sometimes a magnetic field is used to force the arc into a longer path length, greater voltage drop and power dissipation.
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