Study of the ion plasma flow generated by a high-current vacuum arc

Abstract

The vacuum arc discharge is intensively explored for a long time. It acts as a source of multiply charged plasma. The results of the special type plasma gun (5-10 kA, 12 μs) ion flow study with high temporal resolution and the electrode erosion dependences on the amplitude of the current pulse are presented in the research. The ion flow intensity had good reproducibility from series to series, while the values of total mass erosion differ significantly for different series of experiments under the same conditions. The ion erosion was measured to be significantly higher than that for arc sources with currents up to 1 kA. © 2019 IOP Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.