OPTICAL INVESTIGATIONS OF THE SPONTANEOUS EXTINCTION OF THE HIGH-CURRENT KNUDSEN ARC DISCHARGE IN Cs-Ba GAS MIXTURE

The investigations of the spontaneous arc extinction in a switching Cs-Ba triode with a fine-mesh grid, operating in the collisionless mode, have been carried out. The use of Cs-Ba mixture, where cesium is a plasma-forming component, allowed to obtain emission currents from the cathode up go 100 A/cm2 in Cs-pressure range 10-3 - 10-2 Torr and, thus, easily attain the limits of gas current-conduction capacity