Low-current hollow-cathode discharge in a trigger unit of a cold cathode thyratron

The paper deals with the investigations of the effect of cathode emissivity on the regimes of low-current hollow-cathode glow discharge. It is shown that an increase in the emissivity due to the so-called high-emissivity tablet allows the essential decrease in the discharge initiation voltage and the discharge burning voltage. The model of current sustaining for the hollow-cathode discharge, which takes into account the external emission current has been developed. On basis of the model, the current-voltage characteristics of the discharge have been interpreted. (paper)