Electronic Pulses from Pulsed Field Emission of CNT Cathodes

Abstract

We presented a demonstration of infrared laser irradiated field emission electronic pulse based on carbon nanotube (CNT) cathodes. Electronic pulses greatly depended on pulsed infrared laser and were almost synchronous with laser pulses. We have designed a pulsed field emission cathode based on CNTs and investigated correlation between electronic pulse and laser pulse, acquiring the shortest width of electronic pulses about 50 ms and turn-on field less than 0.14 V/μm. Besides, we have studied the thermal effect on the pulsed field emission of CNT cathodes caused by laser heating. Interestingly, the thermal effect has caused an enhancement of emission current but resulted in a waveform distortion on short electronic pulses. The application of laser pulses on CNT cathodes would extend conventional electron sources to a pulsed electron source and offered a possibility of pulsed field emission. These results were encouraging us to prepare further studies of ultrafast electronic pulses for high-frequency electron sources.