Extended cylindrical plasma emitter based on the low pressure arc discharge for generation of a radial dividing electron beam

The paper presents the results of studies of the processes of generation of a beam-plasma formation in an extended cylindrical hollow mesh anode with a diameter of 115 mm and a length of about 1 m of a non-self-sustaining low-pressure arc discharge with thermionic and hollow cathodes. The probe method was used to measure the longitudinal distributions of the plasma parameters inside the grid hollow anode of the arc discharge for various burning conditions with / without a flow of ions injected from the plasma of the main glow discharge, for which the hollow anode was the plasma emitter of electrons. The dependences of the influence on the degree of inhomogeneity of the longitudinal distribution of the ion current density on the probe inside the cylindrical anode of the arc discharge (electron emitter) of the operating pressure, the magnitude of the longitudinal magnetic field in the hollow cathode of the arc plasma source, and the arc discharge current are experimentally determined. In an extended plasma emitter, unequal conditions of plasma formation are formed, leading to the formation of a potential barrier for the propagation of an arc plasma. The emission of ions from the plasma of a glow discharge into the beam-plasma formation allows one to significantly reduce the inhomogeneity of the plasma formed in the hollow plasma emitter. The results obtained show the possibility of the formation of relatively uniform extended beam-plasma formations inside the extended grid anode of the arc discharge under conditions of injection of an external ion flow through the mesh cells.

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