Abstract

The review covers the results of predominantly experimental studies of stationary vacuum arcs with diffuse cathode attachment that burns in vapor of the cathode material with a current density of less than 100 A/cm². Such discharges are of great interest for a number of technologies that require the formation of high-intensity plasma flows without a droplet fraction. The discharges on cathodes made of graphite, pure metals, and oxides, as well as mixed cathodes, are considered. The specificity of the processes on vacuum arc cathodes is characterized by the ratio of the fluxes of thermally vaporized atoms and thermionic electrons. The review presents the results of studies of cathode materials with an atom-electron ratio of ~10^–2 to ~10⁸. Data on the working cathode temperature, the current–voltage characteristic of the discharge, the heat flux from the plasma to the cathode, the plasma parameters, its radiation spectrum, and the ion energy in the cathode jet are presented. Depending on the cathode material, the working temperature ranged from 1.2 to 2.5 kK. An analysis of the features of the charge-transfer processes on various cathodes is also presented.

中文翻译：

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带扩散阴极附件的真空电弧（评论）

摘要

这篇综述涵盖了主要的实验研究结果，这些实验具有固定的具有分散阴极附件的真空电弧，该附件在阴极材料的蒸汽中燃烧，电流密度小于100 A / cm ²。对于需要形成没有液滴分数的高强度等离子体流的许多技术，这种放电引起了极大的兴趣。考虑了由石墨，纯金属和氧化物制成的阴极以及混合阴极上的放电。在真空电弧阴极上的方法的特殊性以热汽化原子与热电子的通量之比为特征。该评论介绍了原子电子比为〜10 ^–2至〜10 ⁸的阴极材料的研究结果。。给出了有关工作阴极温度，放电电流-电压特性，从等离子体到阴极的热通量，等离子体参数，其辐射光谱以​​及阴极射流中离子能量的数据。根据阴极材料的不同，工作温度范围为1.2至2.5 kK。还介绍了各种阴极上电荷转移过程的特征分析。