Investigation of arc roots of constricted high current vacuum arcs

The anodic and cathodic arc roots of constricted high current vacuum arcs were investigated with a fast framing charge-coupled device camera of 1 /spl mu/s exposure time. The experiments were performed with cup-shaped contacts, with sinusoidal currents of amplitudes between 20 and 100 kA, and a sine halfwave duration of 10-12 ms. The arcs were drawn by contact separation and accelerated by the Lorentz force between the arc current and the transverse magnetic field generated by the contrate contact. The anode and cathode arc roots behave reproducibility and arc scaleable within the range of currents investigated. Both types of arc roots are elliptical, with a major to minor axis ratio of 1.4. The major axis points are in the direction of arc propagation. Anodic and cathodic arc root cross-sectional areas as a function of current can both be described by a potential law with a common exponent of 0.76. For currents of 20-100 kA, mean current densities of 81-121 and 41-60 kA/cm/sup 2/ were found in anode and cathode arc roots, respectively. Estimations of their temperature and vapor densities were performed. For the investigated current range T/sub A//spl ap/3300-3600 K, n/sub A//spl ap/1.6*10/sup 19/-2.2*10/sup 19/cm/sup -3/ and T/sub C//spl ap/3200-3400 K, n/sub C//spl ap/0.8*10/sup 19/-1.2*10/sup 19/ cm/sup -3/ were found for anode and cathode, respectively.