Development of a gas-filled ion diode

On the basis of the pseudo - spark, a special low pressure gas discharge producing ion and electron beams of high density (10¹⁶/cm⁻³) and low divergence, an ion-diode was developed. The experiments were carried out at the 3Ω, 100 GW pulse power line “Pollux” at the Kernforschungszentrum Karlsruhe and the 3.5Ω, 10 GW pulse power line “Pulsator” at the Universitat Erlangen-Nürnberg. The divergence of the ion beam depends on power and geometry. Best results are up to now 8 · 10⁻³ radian. The energy of the protons is related to the acceleration voltage. During the best shots the ion beam shows a brightness of 2.5 TW/cm² sterad.