Abstract:
The work is devoted to the construction of the kinetic theory of the cathode layer of a low-voltage beam discharge in inert gases at Knudsen numbers of the order of 1. Under these conditions, this plasma system is promising for the creation of plasma electronic devices. It was found that the structure of the cathode layer of such a discharge differs fundamentally from that of a self-sustaining glow discharge. Thus, the spatial dependence of the electric field may be non-monotonic and contain a maximum. In this case, the values of the electric field near the cathode are significantly smaller, the spatial dependences of the electron and ion densities may have a minimum, and the lengths of the quasi-neutral pre-layer and the cathode part of the disturbed layer, where quasi-neutrality is significantly violated, increase significantly.
Keywords:cathode sheath, presheath, electron beam, elastic scattering of electrons.
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