The acceleration of a cathode-jet plasma in a pulse vacuum discharge

Ion acceleration up to energy less-than-or-equal-to 20 keV in a low-inductive vacuum discharge was investigated experimentally in detail. It was shown that the acceleration started at a distance about approximate-to 2-3 mm from the cathode and continued all the was to the anode. Negative potential 'bursts' moving together with the plasma jet front were discovered. They apparently trapped ions and accelerated them to the observed high energies. A mechanism for the generation of the 'bursts' and the plasma acceleration due to the jet constriction is proposed.