Anomalous acceleration of interelectrode-plasma ions in the spark stage of vacuum discharge

摘要

A new method of obtaining high-energy ion beams using vacuum spark discharge is proposed. It is shown that ions are accelerated in the presence of a plasma cloud in the interelectrode gap, where the development of strong electron instability during the propagation of a cathode electron beam leads to potential buildup to a level exceeding the applied voltage. The appearance of anomalously accelerated ions of the interelectrode plasma is accompanied by a jump in the diode current.