Formation of Pulsed-Periodic Beam of Metal Ions of Submillisecond Duration with High Power Density

Abstract

The article presents the results of studies into the repetitively pulsed formation of aluminum, chromium, and titanium ion beams of submillisecond duration based on a plasma generated by a continuous vacuum arc discharge. High pulse power density in the ion beam is achieved due to the ballistic focusing of ions using a single-electrode mesh extractor in the form of a part of a sphere. To purify the ion beam in the region of its crossover from the droplets of the vacuum arc plasma, the method based on the solar eclipse effect is used. The features and regularities of generating ion beams of three metals at pulse durations of 450 µs, accelerating voltage up to 40 kV, with pulse power density exceeding 10⁵ W/cm² have been studied. It has been established that stable formation of repetitively pulsed high intensity metal ion beams of submillisecond duration based on vacuum arc plasma is achieved due to the ion-electron emission compensating for the escape of plasma electrons into the accelerating gap.