The shot to shot variation in perveance of a planar diode with explosive emission graphite cathode in a range of accelerating gaps 3–12 mm is investigated experimentally. The typical electron beam parameters were 200 kV, 12 kA, 100 ns, with a few hundreds of A/cm2 current density. The diode perveance remains less than the Child–Langmuir value, indicating that only a fraction of the cathode take part in the emission process. A simple statistical analysis of the diode perveance shows that the shot to shot variation is more pronounced for the later part of the accelerating pulse. The cathode plasma expansion velocity and the effective initial emission area have been calculated from the perveance data. It was found that the plasma expansion velocity varies from 3 to 6.5 cm/μs. The mean expansion velocity and the standard deviation increase with the increase in the accelerating gap. The initial emission areas also varies randomly on a shot to shot basis and at the beginning of the accelerating pulse only 4%–35% of the cathode area take part in the emission process. The mean initial emission area and the standard deviation also increase with the increase in the accelerating gap. Experimental result indicates that the larger gaps and lower electric fields suggest a path to more uniform emission.

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Repetitive Pulsed Power Technology is being developed keeping in mind the potential applications of this technology in material modifications, disinfections of water, timber, and food pasteurization etc. BARC has indigenously developed a Linear Induction Accelerator (LIA-200) rated for 200 kV, 4 kA, 100 ns, 10 Hz. The satisfactory performance of all the sub-systems including solid state power modulator, amorphous core based pulsed transformers, magnetic switches, water capacitors, water pulse- forming line, induction adder and field-emission diode have been demonstrated. This paper presents some design details and operational results of this pulsed power system. It also highlights the need for further research and development to build reliable and economic high-average power systems for industrial applications.

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High-power microwaves are generated using high voltage (HV) pulses, which are generated using a Marx generator connected to a peaking stage. The output of the peaking stage is the input to the half transverse electromagnetic (HTEM) horn-type antenna. This paper discusses the effect of isolation distance between HV tapered arm and the grounded reflector on the variation of characteristic impedance and gain with respect to the length, flair angle, and tapering angle of the antenna. This paper also discusses the radiation loss on the side and back of antenna. An experiment has been described using an available Marx generator and HTEM antenna. Using the experimental and simulation results, the optimal design parameters of antenna are obtained.