Abstract:
A glow discharge device comprising an enclosure and means to maintain a suitable gas in the enclosure at a predetermined pressure. An electrode arrangement is either at least partly disposed within the enclosure or forms part of a wall of the enclosure. The electrode arrangement includes one or more anodes, a cathode, and a control electrode. Power supply means are provided to apply a electrical potentials to the anode or anodes said cathode and said control electrode to maintain a first potential difference between an anode and said cathode to generate a first glow discharge, and to maintain a second potential difference between an anode and said control electrode to generate a second glow discharge. The combined first and second glow discharges produces a beam of charged particles, the power intensity of which is controlled by varying the potential applied to the control electrode to vary the glow discharge independently of the potential applied to the cathode.
Abstract:
A discharge device comprises an anode, a hollow cathode with apertures on a side facing the anode and a trigger electrode disposed within the hollow cathode. The trigger electrode is constituted as two plates with interconnecting conductive posts one of the plates being disposed at the side of the cathode with the apertures, the other plate being disposed at the opposite side of the cathode. The hollow cathode has a linear dimension between sidewalls at least several times greater than the size of the main discharge gap between the anode and the cathode. The plate of the trigger electrode which is disposed at the side of the cathode with the apertures may be placed in one of such apertures so as to lie in a common plane with the side of the cathode.