Beams of abnormally accelerated electrons emitted by a vacuum discharge plasma with laser ignition

It has been experimentally shown that a low-power vacuum pinch discharge with laser ignition can emit a beam of abnormally accelerated electrons with maximum energies per unit charge almost an order of magnitude higher than the voltage across the discharge gap. It has been found that the intensity of the X-ray radiation generated when the beam is applied to the target significantly decreases with an increase in the laser pulse energy. The maximum energy of X-ray quanta is inversely proportional to the mass of the cathode substance ablated by laser radiation during discharge ignition. Possible mechanisms of the electron-beam generation process have been discussed.