Analysis of Geometrical Design Parameters for High-Energy and High-Current-Density Pseudospark-Sourced Electron Beam Emission

Abstract

Four different configurations of plasma cathode electron (PCE) guns have been designed and developed in which pseudospark discharge concept has been used. Experimental studies have been performed to identify the dependence of geometrical design parameters like shape of aperture, distribution of apertures, and the number of gaps between hollow cathode and anode on high-energy and high-current-density electron beam emissions. The beam current density has been increased around five times by changing the shape of aperture from circular to sheet keeping the aperture area and other geometrical parameters identical. The perveance of the electron beam has also been increased by increasing the number of apertures on hollow cathode and anode surface. The beam current density from single aperture to multiple apertures has increased from 225 to 900 A/cm2 with low beam energy for the multiple-aperture case. The multiple gaps between hollow cathode and anode increase the electron beam energy. The maximum beam energy is found to be 16–14.5 keV at an applied gap voltage of 16 kV from the developed multigap PCE gun, which is much higher than that from the single gap configuration.