A short (without a positive column) Knudsen thermionic discharge initiated in barium and strontium vapor has been investigated. It has been shown that the behavior of these discharges and their formation mechanism, effective heating of the plasma electrons by a cathode electron beam, are, in general, similar to the discharge in cesium.

We report on the results of investigation of a plasma switch with complete grid control in a discharge with a cathode spot on the liquid-metal cesium cathode without grid diaphragming. The retention of the working area of the grid relative to the anode area leads to an order-of-magnitude increase in the switching anode current (up to 20 A/cm2 over the anode area) and a substantial (up to 100 V and higher) increase in the switching voltages. The use of the cathode jet makes it possible to reduce the working pressures of cesium vapor (down to 10–3 Torr). We discuss the results of analysis of peculiarities of grid discharge quenching in such a switch, which make it possible to determine possible reasons for limitation of the working parameters of the switch and the ways of their further increase.

Some peculiarities in the development of high-current pulse-periodic discharge in cesium vapor have been studied. It is established that, at a cesium vapor pressure of P Cs > ∼100 Torr, a difference between the electron temperature and that of the heavy plasma component almost does not influence the development of discharge. At P Cs ∼ 250 Torr, the character of discharge exhibits significant changes, which require further detailed investigations.

We report on the results of successful implementation of full grid control in a cesium discharge with a cathode spot. The discharge is quenched by a negative grid pulse for a discharge current density up to 75 A/cm2 in the grid plane for voltage switching up to 100 V in the pressure range 0.5–1.5 Pa for a voltage drop of 5–6 V in the discharge. It is shown that quenching is the break-off type. The discovered effect of “evacuation” of the heavy component (ions) from the grid-anode gap to the cathode region leads to an unusually long (hundreds of microseconds) time of stabilization of the steady state in the discharge under the experimental conditions.

The first results of an investigation of the complete current switching (initiation and quenching) using a fine-mesh grid in discharge with a cathode spot on liquid cesium are reported. Experimental data show the possibility of using this method of control at current densities within 5–25 A/cm 2 in the grid plane.

The formation of a continuous emission spectrum of pulsed discharge in high-pressure cesium vapor ( P ≤ 1 bar) has been experimentally studied under conditions of increased power deposited in discharge. Experimental data well agree with the results of theoretical calculations. Physical mechanisms underlying the observed phenomenon are discussed. It is shown that, as the pumping current pulse amplitude is increased from 15 to 80 A, a discrete line spectrum transforms into the continuous spectrum. This is accompanied by an increase in the light yield (from 15 to 85 lm/W) and color-rendering index (from 86 to 98).

The spectrum of pulse-periodic discharge in high-pressure cesium vapor has been studied by experimental and theoretical methods. Experiments confirmed a significant shift of the 6P and 5D recombination continuum thresholds toward longer wavelengths, which was theoretically predicted previously for the emission from discharge in a dense cesium plasma. The overlapping continua form an almost continuous spectrum of emission in the visible spectral range. The results of calculations well agree with the experimental data. It is established that the discharge under consideration is an effective, mercury-free source of light with a color rendering index of R a = 98 and a light yield of η = 81 lm/W.

Results are presented from a systematic investigation of the conditions under which anomalously high rates of plasma generation are observed in the anode region of a low-voltage Knudsen arc in grid plasma switch elements. The phenomenon develops over a wide range of currents and switched voltages under conditions for which the plasma density in the cathode-grid region is noticeably higher than the density in the anode region. and its onset is characterized by a pronounced pressure threshold of ∼2×10−2 Torr. The results are analyzed from the standpoint of the possible mechanisms for anomalous plasma generation — collisional nonresonance diffusion of electrons in velocity space, leading to enrichment of the distribution function in fast particles, and the collapse of Langmuir waves in the gap at the high energies of the beam produced when the wires of the grid are bridged by the quenching pulse and and the current is blocked.

The probe characteristics and their second derivatives with respect to the potential are recorded in a hot-cathode inert-gas (He, Ne, Ar) arc discharge plasma for pressures 0.05--3 torr and discharge currents i = 0.02--2 A. An isotropic ''swarm'' of fast electrons was observed at distances d