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 10^9–10^10 J/cm^3. It is confirmed that the beam current density in a gas diode can exceed 1 kA/cm^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.

The parameters of a high-current electron beam extracted from the self-focusing zone through a hole in the anode into a vacuum chamber are investigated. The beam parameters were determined from the measurement of the spatial distribution of destruction and glow arising in polymethyl methacrylate samples installed at different distances from the anode (electron beam autographs). The formation of two electron beams - a self-focused with a high energy density, propagating along the axis of the cone facing the base to the anode with an apex angle of ~ 7º and a high-energy beam of low density, propagating in a hollow truncated cone and surrounding self-focused, was found. The oscillograms of the current and the energy of the electron beams were measured.