Measurement of current in the hollow cavity of a pseudospark discharge

Summary form only given. The authors present measurements of the current in the hollow cavity of a pseudospark discharge by a Rogowski coil and analysis of the current in relation to other currents and charged particle beam emission. The experimental setup consists of a planar cathode with a hollow cylindrical cavity, sets of intermediate electrodes and insulators, and a planar anode. A 3.2-mm-diam center hole is present through the entire electrode system. A new experiment is underway which investigates the current in the hollow cavity of the pseudospark during the discharge. For a wide range of the hollow cavity dimensions, axial current in the hollow cavity is measured by a Rogowski coil simultaneously with those at various points: downstream of the cathode, upstream of the anode, and downstream of the anode. The behavior of the axial current in the cavity is strongly dependent on the cavity dimension.