Influence of a current jump on vacuum arc parameters

Based on time of flight- method, influence of short time vacuum are current jump on arc plasma parameters were investigated, Superposition of the current pulse of a vacuum are with a high operating voltage results in the appearance of ions of higher charge state in the discharge plasma and in an increase in the mean ion charge state for most of the cathode materials used in the experiment. The method of a "short-time current jump" can be also used to investigate the parameters of a vacuum are, in particular to estimate the ion direct velocities in vacuum are plasmas. Our estimates show that in the presence of a current step the ion velocities are almost identical for all differently charged ions and depend only on the peak current and the ion mass.