Abstract
Time resolving investigations of charged particles flow from the cathode region of the vacuum arc reveal that the basis of charged particles flow is short-term burst. These bursts can form sequences, groups with a relatively smooth waveform and superbursts. The Fourier analysis showed that ion flow has a brown-like frequency law. This fact can serve as evidence of the fractal nature of the cathode spot. However, the detailed analysis of ionsand accelerated electron signals revealed that the fractal nature of charged particle signal can reflect the fractal nature of plasma turbulences in discharge plasma. Also, the strong correlation between intensive charged particle flow appearance and arc discharge parameter instabilities was revealed. Thus, the plasma instabilities can be considered as the cause of ion and electron flow acceleration in the vacuum arc.
Highlights
The ion flow of middle and high-current vacuum arc has got a great interest because it is widely used in scientific researches and industrial applications
The average high current vacuum arc parameters are easy to measure because the high current arc is a stable discharge and produces sufficiently intensive charged particle flow
That is why the charged particle flow of middle and high-current vacuum arc is believed to be well investigated. It was supposed [1] that the definitive process, that governs the operation of the vacuum arc is a low current single cathode spot process
Summary
The ion flow of middle and high-current vacuum arc has got a great interest because it is widely used in scientific researches and industrial applications. The average high current vacuum arc parameters are easy to measure because the high current arc is a stable discharge and produces sufficiently intensive charged particle flow. That is why the charged particle flow of middle and high-current vacuum arc is believed to be well investigated. It was supposed [1] that the definitive process, that governs the operation of the vacuum arc is a low current single cathode spot process. The measurements of plasma flow parameters with sub microsecond time resolution show [2, 3] that ion and electron flow are essentially unstable even when high and middle-current vacuum arc is examined
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