Effect of thermionic cathode heating current self-magnetic field on gaseous plasma generator characteristics.

The performance capabilities of the PINK, a plasma generator with a thermionic cathode mounted in the cavity of a hollow cathode, depending for its operation on a non-self-sustained low-pressure gas discharge have been investigated. It has been shown that when a single-filament tungsten cathode 2 mm in diameter is used and the peak filament current is equal to or higher than 100 A, the self-magnetic field of the filament current significantly affects the discharge current and voltage waveforms. This effect is due to changes in the time and space distributions of the emission current density from the hot cathode.