Enhancement of cathodic electronic emission by slow positive ions in high-pressure arcs

Abstract

Some recent results indicate that the electronic current emitted by the cathode of a high-pressure electric arc may be enhanced by very close positive ions. This problem is addressed here by means of a 2D treatment of the Schrödinger equation, based on a finite element method. In addition, a diagonalization method has been implemented to study the specific role played by processes of electronic resonance. This approach is applied to the test case of an ionized hydrogen plasma in front of a copper cathode. By comparison with a previous 1D study, the present predictions show that a full 2D treatment is required in most cases.