Formation and transport of low-voltage, space-charge dominated sheet electron beams for high-power microwave devices

Abstract

Summary form only given, as follows. Sheet electron beams have the potential to make possible higher power sources of microwave radiation due to their ability to transport high currents, at reduced current densities, through a single narrow RF interaction circuit. We will discuss experimental investigations of the formation of an elliptical sheet beam using magnet quadrupoles and a round-beam electron gun. Features of this configuration include a low-cost, commercially available Pierce gun (10 kV, 2 A, r/sub b/=0.3 cm) and a lens system consisting of four tunable magnetic quadrupoles with modest field gradients (B/sub q//R,/sub q/ 20 periods) stable transport is demonstrated for /spl lambda//sub m/=1 cm for a 2 A, 10 kV elliptical beam with a=2.7 cm and b=0.05 cm.