Title :
Study of the formation of plasma clusters in the near-cathode region of a low-current vacuum arc
Author_Institution :
Inst. of High Current Electron., Russian Acad. of Sci., Tomsk, Russia
Abstract :
The objective of this work is to study the system of a droplet flying from a cathode and its own dense plasma [a plasma cluster (PC)] surrounding it. The regularities of the formation of clusters are investigated, and the parameters of the cluster plasma are measured. It is supposed that plasma clusters result from intensive heating, evaporation, and ionization of the droplet material. In so doing, the most important factor responsible for an increase in heat flux from the surrounding plasma to the droplet is thermal electron emission from the droplet surface.
Keywords :
cathodes; drops; evaporation; glow discharges; heating; ionisation; plasma diagnostics; plasma production; plasma transport processes; vacuum arcs; cathode; cluster plasma; dense plasma; droplet; droplet material; droplet surface; evaporation; heat flux; heating; ionization; low-current vacuum arc; near-cathode region; plasma cluster; plasma clusters; surrounding plasma; thermal electron emission; Cathodes; Copper; Needles; Plasma density; Plasma materials processing; Plasma measurements; Plasma properties; Plasma sources; Solids; Vacuum arcs;
Journal_Title :
Plasma Science, IEEE Transactions on
DOI :
10.1109/TPS.2003.818429