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 ratio between energies of Vavilov–Cherenkov radiation and cathodoluminescence excited by an electron beam in diamond samples is determined taking into account electron scattering in these samples, energy distribution of beam electrons, ionization losses of the electron energy, and dispersion of the diamond refractive index. Experimental results on measuring spectral characteristics of the glow of natural and synthetic diamond samples under the action of a subnanosecond electron beam with electron energy of up to 200 keV are presented. It is shown that most of the radiation of the diamond samples in the region of 240–750 nm under the action of an electron beam with electron energy of up to 200 keV belongs to cathodoluminescence.