Current quenching in the pseudospark discharge and generation of a fast electron beam

Abstract

The quenching of a high pulsed current in the pseudospark discharge is accompanied by an inductive voltage kick at the gap and by formation of an electron beam at the discharge axis. The paper deals with the investigation of this phenomenon. The main idea of the proposed physical mechanism is that the electrons are accelerated in a double electric layer, The main electrode gap of the pseudospark discharge forms by which forms during the quenching process between the hollow cathode plasma and the near-anode plasma. Interpretation of the experimental data on this basis is presented.