Investigation of the Directional Velocities of Ions in a Vacuum Arc Discharge by Emission Methods

This paper is devoted to an investigation of the directional velocities of the ions generated in cathode spots of vacuum arc discharges. By using emission methods of studying the processes in a vacuum arc discharge, which involve the determination of the parameters and characteristics of the discharge plasma by analyzing the ion current extracted from the plasma and the ion charge states, the velocities of ions have been determined for the majority of cathode materials available in the periodic table. Is has been shown that at a low pressure of the residual gas in the discharge gap the directional velocities of the ions do not depend on the ion charge state. Comparison of the data obtained with calculated values allows the conclusion that the acceleration of ions in a vacuum arc occurs by the magnetohydrodynamic mechanism.     

Study of directed ion velocities in a vacuum arc by an emission method

Directed ion velocities in a vacuum arc discharge plasma are measured on the basis of a study of the ion emission current response to a rapid change of arc current. It is shown that these velocities are about 10⁶ cm/s, are determined by the cathode material, and are almost independent of the ion charge number. Applying a magnetic field results in an increase in the directed ion velocity. As the gas pressure increases, the directed ion velocity decreases; this is the only case where the directed velocities are observed to depend on the ion charge number.     

Calculation of the charge composition of an ion beam from an E-Mevva source

The charge composition of an ion beam from an E-Mevva source is calculated within a model of sequential electron ionization of ions in a vacuum arc plasma. The effect of the plasma initial parameters on the charge composition of the ion beam is studied. Possible charge compositions for more than 30 elements omitted from this article are estimated. Also, the charge composition of the ions is calculated for the ultimate current density of the electron beam.     

Mechanism of ion flow generation in vacuum arcs

The ecton model of the cathode spot is used to analyze the main parameters of ion flow in vacuum arcs (ion erosion, mean charge, and velocity). It is shown that the arc plasma is formed as a result of microexplosions at the cathode surface, induced by the Joule heating by the high-density current of explosive electron emission. Ionization processes are localized in a narrow region of the order of a micrometer near the cathode and the ionization composition of the plasma subsequently remains unchanged. Under the action of the electron pressure gradient, ions acquire directional velocities of the order of 10⁶ cm/s even over small distances of the order of several micrometers.     

The Ecton Mechanism for the Generation of Ion Flows in a Vacuum Arc

The principal characteristics of the process of generation of the cathode plasma in a vacuum arc (ion erosion, mean charge of ions) are considered in terms of the ecton model of the cathode spot of a vacuum arc. The estimates of the parameters of ions obtained for a unit cell of a cathode spot – an ecton – are in good qualitative and quantitative agreement with experimental data. The following mechanism for the generation of the cathode plasma of a vacuum arc is proposed. When a region of the cathode is destroyed in an explosive manner due to Joule heating, the material of the cathode sequentially goes over a series of states: the condensed state and the states of imperfect and ideal plasma. During this transition the charge state of the plasma is formed and the ions are accelerated under the action of the pressure gradient in the plasma whose density decreases by several orders of magnitude over distances of 10 m from the cathode surface. The increase in current results in an increase in number of cells, and the principal parameters of the ions are formed as a result of the operation of a unit cell of the spot.     

Velocities of copper and silver ions generated from an impulsevacuum arc

Vacuum gaps with copper and silver needle cathodes were fired by a 13 μs duration half-cycle sinusoidal arc, and charge states of the ions were analyzed using the time of flight (TOF) method at different positions in the direction perpendicular to the electrode axis. Velocities of each charge state ion were determined assuming a collisionless flight from the cathode region to the outside of the gap. The velocities of the fastest ions of copper and silver are 2.1 and 1.6×10⁴ m/s, respectively, regardless of the charge state. The velocities of the ions released with the arc extinction are lower, and differ depending on the state of the charge     

含氢电极脉冲放电等离子体特性诊断

利用飞行时间质谱法诊断了含氢电极脉冲真空弧离子源放电等离子体成分、离子电荷状态及离子扩散速度等特性.实验结果表明,含氢电极脉冲真空弧离子源放电等离子体的离子成分主要由H+,Ti+,Ti2+和Ti3+组成,其中Ti2+占主要部分.当放电电流为40～80 A时,Ti离子的平均电荷数在1.95～2.13之间,随着放电电流的增...     

Ion emission from arc discharge plasmas

Results are presented from studies of the ion-emission properties of the anode plasmas of low-pressure contracted arc discharges and vacuum arcs. It is shown that creating a longitudinal magnetic field in the anode region of a discharge changes the plasma parameters significantly and facilitates a large increase in the ion current. Space charge limited ion current in a vacuum arc leads to a reduction in the noise level of the total ion current and of its components with charges of up to +3, while creating Penning discharge conditions ensures that ions of different gases can be generated in this discharge system at fractions as high as 90%, depending on the type of plasma forming gas.Institute of High-Current Electronics, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences. Translated from Izvestiya Vuzov, Fizika, No. 3, pp. 24–33, March, 1994.     

Effect of the discharge parameters on the generation of deuterium ions in the plasma of a high-current pulsed vacuum arc with a composite zirconium deuteride cathode

We have studied the mass and charge composition of an ion beam extracted from the plasma of a vacuum arc with a zirconium deuteride cathode for various durations of the arc current pulse (half width at half amplitude) of 2, 4, 7, and 17 μs. It has been established that the fraction of deuterium ions in the vacuum arc plasma increases with the current and the dependence achieve saturation for current of about 1 kA. For the fraction of deuterium atoms in the cathode at a level of 40%, the fraction of deuterium ions in the vacuum arc plasma can exceed 80%. The experimental results have been interpreted theoretically. It has been shown that the main sources of deuterium ions in a microsecond arc discharge are cathode spots. We have developed a model of deuterium desorption during the operation of cathode spots for quantitatively estimating the concentration of deuterium ions in the arc plasma.     

Residence time and charge state of silver and zinc ions generatedfrom microsecond vacuum arcs

One mm vacuum gaps with silver or zinc needle-cathode were fired by a 13 μs duration sinusoidal arc or a 9 μs duration exponentially decaying arc. Time-of-flight (TOF) ion measurements were made at variable ion extraction times after the arc ignition to measure the charge state and residence time of the ions. Ag⁺, Ag⁺⁺ and Ag⁺⁺⁺ ions were generated from silver cathode and Zn⁺ and Zn⁺⁺ were generated from zinc cathode. Residual gas atom ions were generated together with the metal ions. Residence times of silver and zinc ions at the acceleration space, which was 15-25 mm apart from the needle cathode, were 5 μs and 17 μs, respectively, regardless the waveform of the arc current. Charge state fractions of silver and zinc ions were determined from the TOF ion currents and were compared with the results by other researchers     

Determination of the specific ion erosion of the vacuum arc cathode by measuring the total ion current from the discharge plasma

The specific ion erosion γ_i of cathodes made of C, Mg, Al, Ti, Co, Cu, Y, Mo, Cd, Sm, Ta, W, Pt, Pb, and Bi is determined by measuring the total ion current from the vacuum arc plasma. It is demonstrated that the ratio of the total ion current to the discharge current, α_i in a vacuum arc varies from 5 to 19%, depending on the cathode material. It is found experimentally that the ion current fraction α_i is inversely proportional to the atomic bond energy of the cathode material. It is shown that an increase in the total ion current extracted from the discharge plasma when applying an external magnetic field to the cathode region of the discharge is related solely to the appearance of ions with higher charge numbers in the plasma, while the magnitude of the specific ion erosion γ_i remains unchanged.     

Ion flux from the cathode region of a vacuum arc

The properties of the ion flux generated in a vacuum arc are reviewed. The structure and distribution of mass erosion from individual cathode spots and the characteristics of current carriers from the cathode region at moderate arc currents are described. An appreciable ion flux (~10% of the total arc current) is emitted from the cathode of a vacuum arc. This ion flux is strongly peaked in the direction of the anode, although some ion flux may be seen even at angles below the plane of the cathode surface. The observed spatial distribution of the ion flux is expressed quite well as an exponential function of the solid angle. The ion flux is quite energetic, with average ion potentials much larger than the arc voltage, and generally contains a considerable fraction of multiply charged ions. The average ion potential and ion multiplicity increase significantly for cathode materials with higher arc voltages but decrease with increasing arc current for a particular material. The main theories concerning ion acceleration in cathode spots are the potential hump theory and the gas dynamic theory. Experimental data indicate that these theories serve reasonably well when used to predict the mean values of the charge state, ion potential, and ion energies for the ion flux, but are quite insufficient when compared with the results for the potentials and energies of individual ions     

Measurements of vacuum arc ion charge-state distributions

The charge-state distribution of ions generated in the metal vapor vacuum arc under a wide range of experimental conditions was measured. The experiments were carried out using an ion source in which the metal vapor vacuum arc is used as the method of plasma production and by which a high-quality, high-current beam of metal ions is produced. Charge-state spectra were measured using a time-of-flight diagnostic; arc voltages were also measured. Parameters that were varied include cathode material, arc current, axial magnetic field strength, neutral gas pressure, and arc geometry     

Measurement of ion parameters during a forced switching off ofcurrent in vacuum

This paper presents the results of ion parameters measured during a forced current commutation of a diffuse vacuum arc, aimed at evaluating the role of ions in discharges occurring rarely after the counterpulse commutation process, in a contact arrangement corresponding to a low-voltage vacuum switch. A sinusoidal half-wave current was interrupted near its amplitude of 400 A with a counterpulse of rise velocities 2.4 and 32 A/μs. In this way, a forced switching off of dc current was modeled. A retarding field analyzer was used for ion parameter measurements at the forced commutation process. Ion potentials up to 100 V were measured at the current zero moment, and the average decay times of ions after current zero were in the range from a few microseconds up to 30 μs as a function of observed ion potential. The measured values of decay times show the rather negligible role of ions in the discharge process after the counterpulse commutation in the examined contact arrangement. The rise time of the countercurrent is proposed as a factor in the successful forced current commutation under these conditions, and values up to a few amperes per microsecond of countercurrent rise velocity can be considered as the limit value     

Gate field emitter failures: experiment and theory

Intrinsic failures of gated field emitters have been studied. The gate-emitter voltage drops from typical values of 140 V to 10-70 V in less than 10 ns at the onset of a failure. Measurements with an electrostatic probe indicate that plumes of ions and electrons are ejected into vacuum. The measured ion current to the probe is typically 10% of the electron current. The voltage during the event and the ion-to-electron current ratio measured at the probe are characteristic of a cathodic vacuum arc plasma. For series resistors less than 1 kΩ, the arc is continuous, while the series resistors greater than 10 kΩ, the arc is intermittent. Initiation of the failure based on ion-space charge enhancement of the emitter electric field is modeled with the plasma simulation code PDS1. These structures provide a controlled geometry for studying arcs of micron size dimension     

含氘电极真空弧等离子体空间分布特性诊断研究

真空弧放电等离子体含有多种离子成分,并且各离子在空间上具有不同的分布规律.本文针对金属氘化物电极真空弧离子源,搭建了一台紧凑型磁分析装置,用来研究放电等离子体中氘离子与金属离子的空间分布.当离子源弧流为100 A左右时,该装置能有效地传输引出束流,并且具有较好的二次电子抑制效果,可准确获得各离子流强.利用该装置测量并获得了氘化钛含氘电极真空弧放电等离子体内氘离子和钛离子空间分布规律,结果表明:径向上,氘离子和钛离子都呈高斯分布,但氘离子分布均匀,而钛离子相对集中在轴线附近,导致轴线附近氘离子比例最低;轴向上,所有离子数量都以自然指数函数减少,而且相对幅度接近,所以氘离子比例几乎不变.本文研究结果不仅有助于理解真空弧放电等离子体膨胀过程,还可以指导金属氘化物电极真空弧离子源及其引出设计.     

Generation of Multiply Charged Ions in the Plasma of a Vacuum Arc Discharge

This paper presents the results of a study on the generation of multiply charged ions in the plasma of a vacuum arc discharge. The average charge of ions in the plasma is increased by using a strong magnetic field, a current burst, or an accelerated electron beam. The results of measurements of the ion charge distribution for each case are reported.     

Space-charge-limited current of vacuum arc thruster

To optimize thrust performance, the expression of space-charge-limited current for vacuum arc thruster is derived from Poisson's equation. The commonly used ring-type and coaxial-type vacuum arc thrusters are simplified to the equivalent current sheet in planar geometry and cylindrical capacitor, respectively, for this calculation. Both the spatial distribution and peak magnitude of space-charge-limited current are given explicitly, together with their dependences on gap distance, applied voltage, charge number, and ion mass. For typical experimental parameters of the vacuum arc thruster, it is shown that the maximum current density drops significantly when the gap distance becomes large and grows when the applied voltage increases; moreover, a cathode material of lower atomic weight yields a higher current density. The expressions of total current for these two types of vacuum arc thruster are also presented. This work, to our best knowledge, is the first application of space-charge-limited current to the vacuum arc thruster and practically very interesting for engineering design.     

真空电弧等离子体发射光谱诊断

真空断路器的开断容量限制其在高压大电流开断领域的应用,获取燃弧过程中的等离子体参数对于提高真空断路器的开断容量至关重要。利用发射光谱法对真空电弧内的等离子体参数进行了诊断,研究了在不同电流幅值条件下真空电弧内电子温度、电子密度、谱线强度的轴向分布规律,结合真空电弧高速图片对真空电弧内不同粒子的扩散过程与弧柱直径之间的关系进行了分析。得到的电子温度在8000～10 000 K量级,电子密度在1019～1020 m?3量级,电子温度与电子密度从阴极向阳极逐渐下降,同时铜原子谱线强度主要集中在两极而一价铜离子谱线强度由阴极向阳极逐渐升高。铜原子谱线强度的径向分布呈现类平顶波分布、一价铜离子谱线强度的径向分布呈现类高斯分布的特点,且铜原子的谱线范围略大于弧柱直径,一价铜离子的谱线范围略小于弧柱直径,两种粒子的扩散速度存在差异。     

On the ion energy distribution of high current arcs in vacuum

With the experiments presented in this paper, applications of a retarding field analyzer (RFA) for the measurement of the ion energy E _i in a vacuum arc plasma are discussed. The examined plasma was produced by a sinusoidal half-wave vacuum arc current. The experiments were concentrated on evaluating the plasma parameters at the last three milliseconds before current zero. In a current range from 300 A_rms to 10 kA_rms, the ion energy distributions and their peak values were evaluated. With the increase of the arc current, a decrease of the ion energy was found. By additional investigations of the angular distribution of the ion energies, a transition from a collision dominated interelectrode plasma to a freely expanding plasma was observed, depending on the arc current