On the ion energy distribution of high current arcs in vacuum

With the experiments presented in this paper, applications of a retarding field analyzer (RFA) for the measurement of the ion energy E/sub i/ in a vacuum arc plasma are discussed. The examined plasma was produced by a sinusoidal half-wave vacuum arc current. The experiments were concentrated on eval...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE transactions on plasma science 1995-12, Vol.23 (6), p.909-914
Main Authors: Rusteberg, C., Lindmayer, M., Juttner, B., Pursch, H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acceleration
Cathodes
Circuits
Current measurement
Discharge in vacuum
Electric discharges
Electrons
Elementary particle vacuum
Energy measurement
Exact sciences and technology
Experiments
Gases
Ions
Measurement
Physics
Physics of gases, plasmas and electric discharges
Physics of plasmas and electric discharges
Plasma measurements
Plasma sources
Vacuum arcs
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Summary:With the experiments presented in this paper, applications of a retarding field analyzer (RFA) for the measurement of the ion energy E/sub i/ in a vacuum arc plasma are discussed. The examined plasma was produced by a sinusoidal half-wave vacuum arc current. The experiments were concentrated on evaluating the plasma parameters at the last three milliseconds before current zero. In a current range from 300 A/sub rms/ to 10 kA/sub rms/, the ion energy distributions and their peak values were evaluated. With the increase of the arc current, a decrease of the ion energy was found. By additional investigations of the angular distribution of the ion energies, a transition from a collision dominated interelectrode plasma to a freely expanding plasma was observed, depending on the arc current.
ISSN:0093-3813
1939-9375
DOI:10.1109/27.476474