From Field Emission to Vacuum Arc Ignition: A New Tool for Simulating Copper Vacuum Arcs |
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| Authors: | H Timko K Ness Sjobak L Mether S Calatroni F Djurabekova K Matyash K Nordlund R Schneider W Wuensch |
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| Institution: | 1. CERN, Genève 23, CH‐1211, Switzerland;2. Helsinki Institute of Physics and Department of Physics, P. O. Box 43, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland;3. Department of Physics, P. O. Box 1048, 0316 University of Oslo, Norway;4. Institut für Physik, Ernst‐Moritz‐Arndt‐Universit?t, Felix‐Hausdorff Str. 6, D‐17489 Greifswald, Germany |
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| Abstract: | Understanding plasma initiation in vacuum arc discharges can help to bridge the gap between nano‐scale triggering phenomena and the macroscopic surface damage caused by vacuum arcs. We present a new twodimensional particle‐in‐cell tool to simulate plasma initiation in direct‐current (DC) copper vacuum arc discharges starting from a single, strong field emitter at the cathode. Our simulations describe in detail how a sub‐micron field emission site can evolve to a macroscopic vacuum arc discharge, and provide a possible explanation for why and how cathode spots can spread on the cathode surface. Furthermore, the model provides us with a prediction for the current and voltage characteristics, as well as for properties of the plasma like densities, fluxes and electric potentials in a simple DC discharge case, which are in agreement with the known experimental values. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) |
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| Keywords: | Vacuum arcs cathode plasma PIC simulations |
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