Discharge instability in a plasma contactor

Abstract

Like the hollow cathode, discharge instability also occurs during the operation of a plasma contactor. Voltage and current probes were employed to test the change of keeper voltage, keeper current, anode voltage, and anode current parameters with time under different working conditions. The anode current range corresponding to the discharge instability phenomenon is about 0.4 A to 1.2 A, and the emission characteristic curve in this area appears to bulge wherein the four parameters all produce different degrees of oscillation, the anode current oscillation being the greatest. Its waveform is considered to consist of a small-amplitude, high-frequency triangular wave and a large-amplitude, low-frequency sawtooth wave, and we have explained the shape of the wave. Each parameter shows hundreds of Hz in oscillation frequency and the phases of the four parameters appear to be regular. After fast Fourier transform processing, the frequency and amplitude of the main peak of the anode current oscillation tend to change with changes of the anode current, and there are differences in the trends under different keeper currents and xenon flows.