Ferroelectric Cathodes in Transverse Magnetic Fields
Authors: Alexander Dunaevsky, Yevgeny Raitses, and Nathaniel J. Fisch
Date of PPPL Report: July 2002
Published in: Journal of Applied Physics 93 Issue 6, 3481-3485
Experimental investigations of a planar ferroelectric cathode in a transverse magnetic field up to 3 kGs are presented. It is shown that the transverse magnetic field affects differently the operation of ferroelectric plasma cathodes in "bright" and "dark" modes in vacuum. In the "bright" mode, when the surface plasma is formed, the application of the transverse magnetic field leads to an increase of the surface plasma density. In the "dark" mode, the magnetic field inhibits the development of electron avalanches along the surface, as it does similarly in other kinds of surface discharges in the pre-breakdown mode.