Plasma discharge shift registers

Apparatus for propagating a gaseous discharge comprising

• a substantially planar substrate,
• a unitary conducting electrode positioned on said substrate,
• a first ordered plurality of conducting electrodes positioned on said substrate adjacent said unitary path,
• means selectively interconnecting said first plurality of electrodes to form N .gtoreq. 3 sets of electrodes, all electrodes in each set being electrically interconnected, and all electrodes in any one set being electrically insulated from any electrode in any other set, electrodes in each of said sets being positioned in a repetitive ordered pattern with respect to electrodes in each of other sets, with each of said patterns including one and only one electrode from the ith of said sets, i=1, 2, ..., N and with said one electrode from the jth of said sets being positioned intermediate an electrode from the (j-1)th of said sets and an electrode from the (j+1)th of said sets, j=2, 3,..., N-1,
• each of said first plurality of electrodes having a first region defining a stable discharge location between that electrode and said unitary electrode and at least a second region defining one or more unstable discharge locations between that electrode and said unitary electrode, and
• means for sequentially applying an N-phase potential across said first plurality of electrodes and said unitary electrode the ith phase of said N-phase potential being applied to the ith set of said first plurality of electrodes
• whereby a gaseous discharge existing at a discharge location on one of said first plurality of electrodes is controllably propagated through discharge locations on successively adjacent ones of said electrodes