On the spatial structure of the cathode jet of a steady-state vacuum arc

Abstract

By means of the developed technique the local cross sectional size of the cathode plasma jet of a steady-state vacuum arc is measured. The measurements are carried out within a range of distances from the cathode. The found magnitude has been rather less than the measured cross sectional size of a steady-state integral plasma flow. The effect of a contraction of the profile of the plasma density and a simultaneous expansion of the profile of the electron temperature (which resulted from magnification of the value of ) on distances is found out also. It is possible to explain the observed effects by considering the compression of a cathode jet by an intrinsic magnetic field of a current, which in fact controls the form and the parameters of the plasma of a cathode jet at large distances from the cathode.