Particle-In-Cell (Pic) Simulations of a Magnetically Insulated Coaxial Diode (MICD) Driven by the Sinus-6 Accelerator: Clarification and Explanation of PIC Electron Population Analysis by Analytically Derived “Fedosov” Solution

Abstract

The growing use of magnetically insulated coaxial diodes (MICDs) driven by either high-current or high-voltage generators of pulsed power has been inspired by MICD applications in different O-type high-power microwaves and millimeter-wavelength vacuum electron devices (VEDs) built around linear slow-wave structures (SWSs). Previous studies of MICDs with cold explosive electron emission (EEE) cathodes have relied on either analytical calculations [1] or experimental measurements [2] only, and thus, the underlying physics of MICDs is still not comprehensively studied in computer simulations using modern particle-in-cell (PIC) codes. The scope of this study is to compare the results of PIC simulations of an MICD driven by the high-current pulsed-power SINUS-6 accelerator [3] with the analytically derived “Fedosov” solution [1] for the maximum space-charge-limited (SCL) electron-beam current able extracted from an MICD. In addition, the results of experiments performed using the SINUS-6 electron beam accelerator [4] will be compared. Results of PIC simulations and subsequent analyses of PIC simulation-obtained electron population in the MICD of the SINUS-6 accelerator show that the results obtained in PIC simulations for the maximum axial kinetic energy distributions of the beam electrons and total electron-beam current produced by the MICD almost perfectly correlate with, respectively, the analytically calculated “Fedosov” potential and “Fedosov” current [1] .