Experimental research of different plasma cathodes for generation of high-current electron beams

Journal Article · Sat Nov 21 00:00:00 EST 2015 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4935880· OSTI ID:22492939

Shafir, G.; Kreif, M.; Gleizer, J. Z.; Gleizer, S.; Krasik, Ya. E. ^[1]; Gunin, A. V.; Kutenkov, O. P.; Rostov, V. V. ^[2]; Pegel, I. V. ^[2]

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1. Physics Department, Technion, Haifa 32000 (Israel)
2. Institute of High Current Electronics, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Tomsk 634055 (Russian Federation)

The results of experimental studies of different types of cathodes—carbon-epoxy rods, carbon-epoxy capillary, edged graphite, and metal-dielectric—under the application of high-voltage pulses with an amplitude of several hundreds of kV and pulse duration of several nanoseconds are presented. The best diode performance was achieved with the edged graphite and carbon-epoxy-based cathodes characterized by uniform and fast (<1 ns) formation of explosive emission plasma spots and quasi-constant diode impedance. This result was achieved for both annular cathodes in a strong magnetic field and planar cathodes of a similar diameter (∼2 cm) with no external magnetic field. The cathodes based on carbon-epoxy rods and carbon-epoxy capillaries operating with an average current density up to 1 kA/cm{sup 2} showed insignificant erosion along 10{sup 6} pulses of the generator and the generated electron beam current showed excellent reproducibility in terms of the amplitude and waveform.

• OSTI ID: 22492939
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 118, Issue 19; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
AMPLITUDES
CATHODES
CURRENT DENSITY
ELECTRIC POTENTIAL
ELECTRON BEAMS
EMISSION
EPOXIDES
EROSION
GRAPHITE
MAGNETIC FIELDS
PLASMA
PULSES
RODS