Abstract: An ignitron apparatus has an airtight tubular housing having a first sealed end and a second sealed end. An anode is connected at the first sealed end, projecting into the housing, and a recess at the second sealed and forms a well which contains a quantity of liquid gallium or gallium alloy making up the cathode. An ignitor projects through the liquid metal and into the housing. The inner surface of the housing includes at least one plating-reduction structure to prevent electrical shorting of the apparatus caused by plating of the liquid metal.

Abstract: An ignitron device is provided in which a permanent annular magnet at least partly surrounds the region between the ignitron anode and the surface of a mercury pool connected to the cathode terminal, the magnet being effective to create an axial magnetic field in the aforementioned region which tends to constrain the discharge arc of the device towards the center of the pool and away from the envelope walls of the device.

Abstract: Liquid-metal plasma valve has an anode, a condenser and a force-fed liquid-metal cathode. These bound the interelectrode space through which the plasma jet acts during conduction. The cathode directs the plasma jet to impinge on an inclined surface which acts as the anode. The inclined surface reflects the particles to the condenser when the anode is noncondensing, but when the functions of anode and condenser are combined, the inclined surface of the condensing anode traps the jet particles. When the anode is noncondensing, in some cases the condenser and anode are at the same potential and in other cases the condenser and cathode are at the same potential. Cathode, anode and condenser are shaped to minimize the transit time of jet particles from emission to condensation.