A device for producing uniform plasmas for advanced accelerator experiments

Summary Form only given, as follows. The authors report the development of a device that produces uniform plasmas of density 10/sup 14/-10/sup 15/ cm/sup -3/ over volumes >1 cm/sup 3/ and discuss applications for the realization of plasma lens and plasma accelerator experiments. The device is based on a high-current hollow-cathode pulsed discharge that has demonstrated a uniform, repeatable plasma and can be operated at high repetition rates with low energy storage and dissipation. The high current and electron densities are possible due to a superemissive self-heated cathode. The cathode is molybdenum that has a thin surface layer heated to its melting point ( approximately 2900 K) by ion bombardment during the transient phase of the pulsed discharge. This hot surface layer produces a significant field-enhanced thermionic emission from an initially cold cathode.<>