Non-self-maintained high-voltage low-pressure discharge
Abstract
The characteristics of, and the physical processes underlying, a nonself maintained high voltage discharge occurring during the emission of electrons into a low pressure space between flat metal electrodes are investigated. The discharge is studied in kinetic approximation for pressures equal to or greater than the critical pressure, with allowance for the movement of charged particles in the self consistent field and the ionization of gas by cathode and secondary electrons, ions and fast neutrals which are formed when the ions are recharged. The role of these processes is assessed, and the transmission of current through the gas discharge space is analyzed. The mechanisms underlying the development of breakdown in thyratrons is clarified. The use of the discharge of a cathode with defined electron emission current makes it possible to analyze processes occurring at pressures greater than and less than the critical pressure, to determine the perveance of the high voltage interval for subcritical pressures, and the current of the transition to the plasma form for supercritical pressures.
- Publication:
-
USSR Rept Electron Elec Eng JPRS UEE
- Pub Date:
- January 1985
- Bibcode:
- 1985RpEEE....Q..54B
- Keywords:
-
- Electric Discharges;
- Electron Emission;
- High Voltages;
- Low Pressure;
- Thyratrons;
- Cathodes;
- Charged Particles;
- Gas Ionization;
- Kinetics;
- Phase Transformations;
- Plasmas (Physics);
- Electronics and Electrical Engineering