A PLASMA EMITTER BASED ON A GLOW-DISCHARGE IN THE ELECTRODE STRUCTUREOF LARGE-AREA NETTED AND PLATE CATHODES

A new design for a plasma emitter is described. It is based on a stati onary volume anomalous glow discharge, which is ignited inside an elec trode structure of the netted and plate cathodes with ring anodes and an auxiliary sectionalized Penning discharge. Specific features of the ignition and maintenance of the discharge and emission characteristic s of a near-wall plasma of the netted cathode are investigated. The po ssibility of an effective extraction of electrons and ions from the pl asma is shown. Electron and ion beams of large cross sections (diamete r of 140 mm) are obtained with a highly uniform current density.