Topical Review: Cathode Spots of Electric Arcs

A review is given on arc cathode spots, mainly based on the investigation of arcs in a vacuum with cold cathodes. For the latter and after a short description of general features and theoretical concepts, experiments are presented that study the temporal and spatial behaviour of the spots with high time and space resolution of less than 10 ns and less than 5 µm, respectively. With the help of these observations the various spot types described in the literature are ordered into three levels: level A corresponding to the proper spot with typical diameters of 50-100 µm, level B associated with spot fragments having a size of 10-20 µm and level C comprising a substructure of the fragments. The structures undergo periodic fluctuations of brightness and position with characteristic times that can be arranged in a hierarchy from a few nanoseconds through about 100 µs. The analysis of these fluctuations shows that the spot operates in cycles that include both extremely non-stationary periods with time constants of less than 10 ns and more stationary periods in the microsecond range. In the presence of an external magnetic field, the latter periods lead to unstable plasma configurations that give rise to retrograde motion. Finally, for vacuum arc spots the basic parameters are summarized. After that, the peculiarities of spots in gases with cold electrodes are discussed, followed by a presentation of spots with hot cathodes at high pressures.