Modeling of Cathode Plasma Flare Expansion

A kinetic 1-D model of cathode plasma flare expansion to the interelectrode vacuum gap was developed. The kinetic model is a model of 1D3V particle-in-cell and direct simulation Monte Carlo type. The model takes into account the main types of elastic and inelastic collisions of particles in the plasma as well as evaporation and thermofield electron emission from the cathode. The model treats the plasma flare expansion and the electron emission from the outer plasma boundary of the flare self-consistently. The plasma characteristics of the cathode flare obtained with the model are in a reasonable agreement with known experimental results.