Electrophysical Processes in the Cathode Cavity of Vacuum Plasma Generators

The role of the active zone of a follow cathode as the region to the plasma and cathode of which the maximum discharge power is introduced is proved theoretically and experimentally. An analysis of the interaction of the plasma with the cathode surface shows that the current density has a maximum along the cathode length, which decreases to the end face; the cathode current is found to decrease to zero from the current connection zone due to the interaction of the plasma electron component with the self-magnetic field. The temperature distribution along the cathode outer surface length and the voltage drop across the cathode length have been measured experimentally. An equation for calculating the current density distribution over internal cathode surface is proposed.