The state of the carbon vapour in the regenerative sooting discharge

Formation of the regenerative soot is the process of recycling and introduction of the cathode deposited carbon clusters into the discharge. The agglomerates of carbon clusters on the cathode release their constituents into the plasma that goes from the pure sputtering mode to the sooting one. The process of the regeneration of the soot that emits large carbon clusters is discussed by evaluating the state of the carbon vapour by using the characteristic line emissions from the discharge. Received 17 April 2001 and Received in final form 13 June 2001