Design and development of Pseudospark based hollow cathode plasma electron gun

A single gap Pseudospark based hollow cathode plasma electron gun has been developed at CEERI. An experimental investigation for the above electron gun was conducted at different operating conditions in argon and hydrogen atmosphere. The electron beam (current ≥ 50 amps, density ≈ 700 Acm-²) is travelling more than 200 mm in the drift region through gaseous environment without using guiding magnetic field. Theoretical studies for the initiation phase of Pseudospark discharges have also been carried out by two dimensional kinetic simulation code (OOPIC-Pro). The pre-breakdown and breakdown phases of a pseudospark discharge have been investigated. The spatial and temporal behavior of the electron density at the anode have been reported as a function of the hollow cathode dimension, gas types & their pressure and mean velocities of injected seed electrons at the cavity back wall.