The high-current-density phase of the discharge in low-pressure high-power switches as a mode of the vacuum discharge

Concepts of the theory of near-cathode layers of vacuum arcs are extended to the range of lower values of the current density and of the temperature of the cathode surface. It is shown that these concepts describe the mode of the vacuum discharge with the near-cathode voltage drop on the level of several hundred volts. The main features of this mode correspond qualitatively to those of the high-current-density phase of the discharge in low-pressure high-power switches.>