Effects of anode materials on the performance of explosive field emission diodes

Explosive field-emission cathodes have been the electron emitter of choice, and often necessity, for high-power microwave (HPM) tubes for many years. The materials typically used for these cathodes range from polymer and cotton velvets, to metals such as stainless steel, and to carbon materials such as bulk carbon and carbon fibers. With several notable exceptions, the issues of the anode and its composition have been largely ignored. Generally, the diode performance, such as current levels, impedance collapse, and out-gassing, have been attributed to the cathode alone rather than to the combination of the cathode and anode. In this paper, we investigate the affects of various anode materials on the performance of explosive field emission cathodes. We show that bipolar flow significantly and rapidly alter diode performance at lower voltage and energy densities than usually observed. We show also the effects of anode material choice on out-gassing, and diode conditioning. Experiments have shown that bipolar flow is a significant issue in diode performance for even short pulses. The theoretical aspects of the diodes are discussed, with a comparison of experiment to theory.