Instability of plasma plume of micro-hollow cathode discharge

The micro-hollow cathode gas discharge driven by thermionic emission is studied using the two-dimensional particle-in-cell Monte Carlo collisions simulation. The electron current is extracted from the plasma plume penetrating into the keeper–anode space through a small keeper orifice from the cathode-keeper space. The results of simulations and a simplified analytical model showed that the plasma density and extracted current can exhibit deep modulation in the range of frequencies of tens of MHz. This modulation appears when the space-charge limited current between the plume boundary and the anode exceeds the plasma thermal electron current through the orifice.