Critical state model for explosive emission plasma parameters estimation

TL;DR

This paper introduces a critical state model to estimate plasma parameters in explosive electron emission, predicting cathode plasma characteristics during vacuum arc discharges with results aligning with experimental data.

Contribution

It presents a novel critical temperature-based model for plasma parameter estimation in explosive emission, applicable to various materials and arc conditions.

Findings

Cathode flare plasma ions kinetic energy ~100 times critical temperature

Average ions charge estimated as 1 + critical temperature in eV

Plasma momentum per charge aligns with experimental ion velocity and erosion rate

Abstract

A model has been proposed for estimation of plasma parameters of explosive electron emission pulses in vacuum arc discharge. It based on transition through the critical state during the explosion and allow to predict the cathode spot plasma parameters for various materials. The cathode flare plasma ions kinetic energy was estimated to be of about 100 times critical temperature. Average ions charge has been estimated as (1 + critical temperature value in eV). Both dependencies agree with experimental results. Explosive electron emission plasma momentum per transferred charge has been evaluated to be about tens of g cm / (s C) and agrees with the product of measured ions velocity and erosion rate. Effective critical temperature approach has been proposed for the estimation of plasma properties for the arc burning at surface with a fine structure