Generation and application of pseudospark-sourced electron beams

Abstract

A pseudospark (PS) discharge has been shown to be a promising source of high brightness, high intensity electron beam pulses. A PS-sourced electron beam has two phases, an initial hollow cathode phase (HCP) beam followed by a conductive phase (CP) beam. In our experiments, a 22 kV, 50 A HCP beam of brightness 109–10 A m−2 rad−2 followed by a 200 V, 200 A CP beam of brightness 1011–12 A m−2 rad−2 were measured. Experiments have been conducted with the application of a HCP beam in a Cherenkov interaction with no input seed wave and with post-acceleration of the CP beam. In this paper, a new Cherenkov interaction experiment with an input seed wave from a 20 kW, 35 GHz pulsed magnetron has been designed using the same PS HCP beam. Simulation results of the interaction will be presented and further PS electron beam applications will be discussed.

A tapered multi-gap multi-aperture pseudospark-sourced electron gun based X-band slow wave oscillator

“…3,4 To overcome this problem, the possibility of using a plasma-filled interaction structure in which electrons can propagate far enough from the metallic walls is very attractive.…”

“…1,4 There are basically two broad classifications of plasma filled microwave tubes based respectively on differential pressure based plasma cathode electron guns and pseudospark (PS) based electron guns, each of which have their own advantages and limitations. [1][2][3][4] The advantage of the former electron gun is the possibility of generating long pulse energetic electron beams using an active pumping system for evacuating gas from the accelerator region. No such arrangement is essential in pseudospark gun sources, albeit there is a restriction to shorter duration pulses of the generated electron beam.…”

Preliminary design of a G-band extended interaction oscillator driven by a sheet electron beam

“…In the millimeter and sub-millimeter wavelength community, RF sources with compact configuration, high efficiency, and high output power have many potential applications, including satellite communications, radars, molecular spectroscopy, bioimaging, and plasma science [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. The extended interaction oscillator (EIO) has been widely studied as a promising source to satisfy some of these applications, due to its high radiation power and compact configuration [1][2].…”

“…A W-band EIO with a pseudospark-sourced [8][9][10][11] pencil electron beam was previously studied at the University of Strathclyde [2]. These experiments achieved a radiation power of about 38 W at 92 GHz.…”

X-ray emission as a diagnostic from pseudospark-sourced electron beams

“…Because of its special discharge characteristics, the pseudospark discharge has gained considerable attention during the last 30 years, particularly with regard to its breakdown characteristics and the underlying plasma physics responsible for high current emission, and for its potential application in various fields [10,11]. For example, the pseudospark has been shown a) Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.…”