Investigation of energy and mass - charging composition of a vacuum spark plasma at various pulse parameters and electrode arrangement

Vacuum spark plasmas with various pulse parameters were investigated. Two types of pulse generator were used to initiate the discharge. The pulse amplitude and duration were varied from 15 to 350 kV and from 100 to 400 ns, respectively. The electrode separation of the vacuum gap was varied from 2 to 15 mm. It has been found that the most probable energies of the ion flow species increase with gap spacing. Also, a dependence of the most probable energies of the ion flow species on ion charge has been revealed.