ABSTRACT
The points in figure 4 depict the limit of stability of the diffuse mode (i.e., the current value below which the diffuse mode becomes unstable) calculated for argon, mercury and MH plasma by means of an approach described in [3]. The stability limit in the mercury plasma is higher than that in the argon plasma, in accord with a general tendency establihed in the previous work for single-species plasmaproducing gases (lower near-cathode voltages correspond to a higher stability limit). However, this tendency is violated in the case of the MH plasma, where the stability limit is lower than that in mercury. In other words, an addition of a small amount of metal halides may result in a considerable expansion of the range of stability of the diffuse mode.
