Oscillations and chaos in plasma-filled diodes

Abstract

A plasma-filled diode has four different regimes of operation: stable, oscillatory, chaotic, and unstable. So far only a special case of charge neutrality at the entrance electrode (/spl alpha/=n/sub i0//n/sub e0/=1) has been considered. In the present investigations the analysis has been extended to the more general case of /spl alpha//spl ne/1, i.e., when there is a net positive or negative charge present at the entrance electrode. The device is frequently used as a model of modern microwave tubes such as vircators and split-cavity oscillators.