Electron sources for plasma electronics and different technological application

Abstract

There are the following advantages of applying electron guns with plasma cathodes in devices exciting microwave radiation: stability of their parameters, high density of current, relative insensitivity to ion bombardment and the possibility of operating over a wide range of pressure values of a plasma-generating gas [1-5]. The given work aims at constructing the guns with the parameters necessary for the excitation of microwaves of high amplitudes in the slow-wave structures: the beam energy is 20-30 kV, the current is up to 5 A, and the pulse duration is 0,11÷1 ms. The principal problem arising during construction of heavy-current electron sources with plasma emitters consists in the following: it is necessary to provide such conditions of the gas volume, under which the discharge firing would be stable and the emissive plasma generation be effective, whereas a gas breakdown in the accelerating gap must be eliminated.