| Abstract: | When a voltage pulse is applied to an interelectrode vacuum gap, bunches of transient plasma are formed on the cathode which are efficient emitters of charged particles. The present review gives the results of investigations of the cathode-plasma emissivity, the stability conditions of the high-voltage discharge phase, the mass-charge composition of the cathode plasma and its relationship to the threshold current of the cathode material, and the conditions for forming an anode plasma and its influence on the duration of the high-voltage discharge phase. Examples are given in which the results are used to create a wide range of electron and ion beams and current beakers.Institute of Power Electronics, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences. G. P. Bazhenov Institute of Electrophysics, Urals Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 3, pp. 83–99, March, 1994. |
