A source of a wide-aperture gas-discharge plasma flow

The described generator produces a wide-aperture flow of charged plasma particles (electrons, positive and negative ions) with a cross-sectional diameter of at least 120 cm, which propagates to a distance of 50 cm or more (depending on the operating mode and the geometric dimensions of the vacuum chamber). The uniform distribution of charged particles in the cross section of the plasma flow is at least 98%. The discharge current reaches 1 A or more at an accelerating voltage of 0.3–6 kV. The energy of particles in the plasma flow under such conditions was 10–6000 eV at current densities of up to 10 mA/cm2. The generator structure contains coaxially positioned meshes of the anode grid and the cathode grid. The latter closes the cavity inside the cathode volume at a depth of 3–5 mean free paths of electrons in the gas-discharge plasma flow. The cathode is manufactured so that the cavity diameter exceeds the diameter of the through cavity in the cathode insulation, the latter being determined by the size of the plasma-flow cross section. The distance between the grid anode and the cathode grid is equal to the Aston dark space of a glow discharge, thus permitting the cathode lifetime to be increased to 3 years. It is shown that the duration of the cathode continuous operation is determined by the chosen values of its cavity depth and accelerating voltage.