Journal of Radio Electronics. eISSN 1684-1719. 2025. ¹11
Full text in Russian (pdf)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.30898/1684-1719.2025.11.44
17th International Conference
Gas Discharge Plasmas and Their Applications
Ekaterinburg, Russia, 8-12 September 2025
Measurements of vacuum arc threshold current
for cadmium cathode:
cutoff current and arc initiation probability
P.S. Mikhailov, I.L. Muzyukin, I.V. Uimanov, D.L. Shmelev
Institute of Electrophysics, UB, RAS,
620016, Russia, Yekaterinburg, Amundsena str., 106
The paper was received November 28, 2025.
Abstract. In this paper, two experimental techniques were developed to study the threshold parameters of a vacuum arc discharge with a cadmium cathode. The first technique allows us to determine the threshold current of the vacuum arc as the most probable value of the cutoff current during a current drop formed by a unipolar discharge pulse of the RC circuit. The second technique is aimed at determining the probability of arc ignition depending on the discharge current in the event of breakdown of the high-voltage vacuum gap. This technique was also used to measure the average time of arc operation at near-threshold currents. Particular attention was paid to the initial preparation and subsequent cleaning of the cathode surface in the area of vacuum arc formation using long arc discharges with currents of several amperes. This method allows for erosion of the cathode surface to a depth of several micrometers. Additionally, the average operating time at the threshold current and at currents below the threshold level was determined.
Key words: threshold current, vacuum arc.
Financing: The research was carried out with financial support of Russian Science Foundation grant ¹ 23-19-00360, https://rscf.ru/en/project/23-19-00360/.
Corresponding author: Mikhailov Pavel Sergeevich, gmgm01@mail.ru
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For citation:
Mikhailov P.S., Muzyukin I.L., Uimanov I.V., Shmelev D.L. Measurements of vacuum arc threshold current for cadmium cathode: cutoff current and arc initiation probability. //Journal of Radio Electronics. – 2025. – ¹. 11. https://doi.org/10.30898/1684-1719.2025.11.44 (In Russian)