Electron beam generation from a superemissive cathode

Author

Hsu, T-Y ; Liou, R.-L. ; Kirkman-Amemiya, G. ; Gundersen, M.A.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng. & Electrophys., Univ. of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

fYear

1991

fDate

6-9 May 1991

Firstpage

1990

Abstract

An experimental study of electron beams produced by a superemissive cathode in the Back-Lighted Thyratron (BLT) and the pseudospark is presented. This work is motivated by experiments demonstrating very high current densities (>or=10 kA/cm/sup 2/ over an area of 1 cm/sup 2/) from the pseudospark and BTL cathode. This high-density current is produced by field-enhanced thermionic emission from the ion beam-heated surface of a molybdenum cathode. This work reports the use of this cathode as a beam source, and is to be distinguished from previous work reporting hollow cathode-produced electron beams. An electron beam of more than 260 A peak current has been produced with 15 kV applied voltage. An efficiency of approximately=10% is estimated.<>

Keywords

cathodes; electron sources; thyratrons; BLT; Back-Lighted Thyratron; Mo; efficiency; electron beams; field-enhanced thermionic emission; high-density current; ion beam-heated surface; peak current; pseudospark; superemissive cathode; very high current densities; Anodes; Cathodes; Current density; Electrodes; Electron beams; Electron tubes; Resistors; Switches; Thyratrons; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Particle Accelerator Conference, 1991. Accelerator Science and Technology., Conference Record of the 1991 IEEE

Conference_Location

San Francisco, CA, USA

Print_ISBN

0-7803-0135-8

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PAC.1991.164846

Filename

164846