Filamentation and Self-Focusing of Electron Beams in Vacuum and Gas Diodes

Journal Article · Mon Apr 15 04:00:00 EDT 2019 · Technical Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1134/S1063785019040023· OSTI ID:22929289

Tarasenko, V. F.; Burachenko, A. G. ^[1]; Nguyen, V. V. ^[2]

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1. Institute of High Current Electronics, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences (Russian Federation)
2. National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University (Russian Federation)

In this paper, we experimentally studied pulsed electron beams with a high local density. The conditions in which the energy density cumulation is observed during the interaction of electrons with the anode are shown to develop in vacuum and gas diodes at nanosecond and subnanosecond durations of a beam current pulse and a decrease in the interelectrode gap. The average electron energy in filamentation and self-focusing of an electron beam in a vacuum diode of an accelerator at a current of ~2 kA and a no-load voltage of ~400 kV was established to be 50–100 keV while the energy density was 10{sup 9}–10{sup 10} J/cm{sup 3}. It is confirmed that the beam current density in a gas diode can exceed 1 kA/cm{sup 2}. It is hypothesized that superdense electron beams in vacuum and gas diodes are formed as a result of avalanche multiplication of runaway electrons in the cathode–anode gap plasma.

• OSTI ID: 22929289
• Journal Information: Technical Physics Letters, Journal Name: Technical Physics Letters Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 45; ISSN 1063-7850
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
ANODES
BEAM CURRENTS
CATHODES
CURRENT DENSITY
ELECTRIC POTENTIAL
ELECTRON BEAMS
ENERGY DENSITY
FOCUSING
KEV RANGE
PLASMA
RUNAWAY ELECTRONS