Abstract
A physical model of a self-sustaining reflective discharge is formulated based on the continuity equation for the electron flux and the equation of energy balance on the hot cathode. The model allows one to calculate the current-voltage characteristic of a high current reflective discharge with a hot cathode in a wide range of magnetic fields, discharge cell dimensions, and cathode material work functions. An advantage of the model is that it is capable of describing the ordinary operating mode of a reflective discharge with cold cathodes as a limiting case. The model predicts the existence of two discharge operating modes with thermionic electron emission on the cathode: a low-voltage mode with a high current density and a high-voltage mode with a significantly lower current density. It is shown that the low-voltage operating mode can occur in a wide range of the discharge currents, while the discharge voltage can be substantially reduced by using a cathode material with a low work function.
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