Heated cathode arc in the vapors generated from titanium anode as a possible new pumping system

A new type of discharge has been reported previously. This discharge is established in vacuum conditions in the vapors of the anode which is continuously evaporating due to the incoming accelerated electrons generated from a heated cathode. A high voltage is applied between the heated cathode and anode. In this way pure metal vapor discharges can be established in any kind of metal vapors, titanium included. Because the evaporation rates of anode material using this new type of discharge is at least ten times higher than the evaporation rates when Joule heated crucible is used, we thought and proved that this type of discharge in titanium vapors might have pumping properties. By using a small size glass device, the measured pumping speed exceeded 5 l/s for residual air and 0.8 l/s for neon. The used power for the titanium discharge was around 0.25 kw. The obtained results prove the potential use of such devices. One of the advantageous of these devices is the possibility to manufacture small size pumps, for individual pumping of vacuum sealed-off special devices or for high speed pumping. (Author)