Measurements of the radiation power of a high-current vacuum arc at high current densities

The radiation of a vacuum arc was measured in the spectral region 200nm ≤ λ ≤ 1100 nm. The arc was initiated in the center of the cathode by ignition discharge, by breaking the current in the auxiliary circuit, and was fed by the rectangular current pulse with a duration of 10 ms. The contact gap was fixed at 4mm, the butt D=30mm CuCr30 contacts were used. The arc was stabilized by an external uni...