Anode plasma formation in a diode with carbon fiber cathode

Summary form only. We report results on the generation of a high-current electron beam in a diode with different type carbon fiber cathodes with and without Csl coating at a pressure of ~8x10^-5 Torr, under an accelerating pulse with amplitude of ~ 300 kV and ~300 ns duration. Different diagnostics which include collimated Faraday cup array, time-resolved multi pin-hole camera, X-ray imaging of the electron beam, fast framing 4Quick05A camera for visible imaging of the cathode plasma light emission and visible time and space resolved spectroscopy were used to study parameters of the generated electron beam and cathode plasma.