Investigations of a glow discharge initiated by an auxiliary glow discharge operating at an elevated pressure in the discharge gap have been performed. The main discharge, due to the pressure difference between the two discharge systems, is initiated with low jitter and operates with a discharge current of up to 400 A and an operating voltage of 300-900 V. Varying the dimensions of the channel connecting the two discharge systems, it is possible to reduce the operating voltage of the main discharge about two times and increase the discharge current by a factor of 1.5-2. It has been demonstrated that with this discharge system emission current densities of up to 100 A/cm2 can be achieved at an extraction voltage of 15 kV