Studies of Characteristics of Ion-Magnetically Insulated Diodes

This paper reports the study of the characteristics of magnetically insulated coaxial diodes (MID) with axial (BZ) and azimuthal (B¿) field. It is shown that unclosed electron drift in these MID with Be-field resulted in quick neutralization of anode-cathode (AC) gap and high-power ion beam (HPIB) generation with amplitudes ten and more times higher than the Child limit, in the first 50 ns. The behavior of diode impedance, electron flow, HPIB amplitudes, angles of divergence, and generation efficiencies were investigated. The possibility of heavy ion beam generation due to electron losses on the anode in MID with Bz-field was shown. The threshold specific energy input values needed for surface plasma formation versus magnetic field strength for different materials were measured. The proton beam generated in MID with Be-field was used to pump a He-Xe-CCl4 laser of L=17 cm length with 3.7% efficiency.