Rapid Energization of Electrons in a Critical Velocity Discharge Experiment

摘要

Light emission variation with sudden current increase was studied in a critical velocity experiment using a coaxial gun j x B discharge. The line emission was used to estimate the rate of formation of the high energy tail of the electron energy distribution. It is found that electron-electron collision processes are too slow to account for the observed characteristic time for tail formation. Collective interactions are required not only to transfer energy to the electrons, but also to deposit this energy in such a way as to form the high energy tail.