Very broad vacuum arc ion and plasma sources with extended large area cathodes

Two versions of vacuum arc sources for producing accelerated ion beams and plasma flows are described. The sources are distinguished by use of a dc va cuum arc discharge for plasma generation on the basis of a simple linear or coaxial plasma gun with extended large area (70 300 and 1500 cm(2)) cathod es and microparticle filtering system. The dc vacuum arc discharge combined with the diode extraction system enables us to use the single source for d c mode of plasma flow formation and repetitively pulsed mode of ion beam ge neration. Experimental and numerical results are presented on the repetitiv ely pulsed accelerated ion beam formation in the vacuum arc sources with la rge area cathodes. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0034-6748(00)5 6702-1].