| Abstract: | X-ray emissions ranging 1.2–3.0 keV with dose rate up to 1.0 Gy/s have been registered in experiments with high-current Glow Discharge. The emissions energy and intensity depend on the cathode material, the kind of plasma-forming gas, and the discharge parameters. The experiments were carried out on the high-current glow discharge device using D2, H2, Kr, and Xe at pressure up to 10 Torr, as well as cathode samples made from Al, Sc, Ti, Ni, Nb, Zr, Mo, Pd, Ta, W, Pt, at current up to 500 mA, and discharge voltage of 500–2500 V. Two emission modes were revealed under the experiments: (1) Diffusion X-rays was observed as separate X-ray bursts (up to 5 × 105 bursts a second and up to 106 X-ray quanta in a burst), (2) X-rays in the form of laser microbeams (up to 104 beams a second and up to 1010 X-ray of quanta in a beam, angular divergence was up to 10−4, the duration of the separate laser beams must be τ = 3 × 10−13–3 × 10−14 s, the separate beam power must be 107–108 W). The emission of the X-ray laser beams occurred when the discharge occurred and within 100 ms after turning off the current. The results of experimental research into the characteristics of secondary penetrating radiation occurring when interacting primary X-ray beams from a solid-state cathode medium with targets made of various materials are reported. It was shown that the secondary radiation consisted of fast electrons. Secondary radiation of two types was observed: (1) The emission with a continuous temporal spectrum in the form of separate bursts with intensity up to 106 fast electrons a burst. (2) The emission with a discrete temporal spectrum and emission rate up to 1010 fast electrons a burst. A third type of the penetrating radiation was observed as well. This type was recorded directly by the photomultiplier placed behind of the target without the scintillator. The abnormal high penetrating ability of this radiation type requires additional research to explain. The obtained results show that creating optically active medium with long-living metastable levels with the energy of 1.0–3.0 keV and more is possible in the solid state. |
