Preliminary experimental study of a carbon fiber array cathode

Abstract

The preliminary experimental results of a carbon fiber array cathode for the magnetically insulated transmission line oscillator (MILO) operations are reported. When the diode voltage and diode current were 480 kV and 44 kA, respectively, high-power microwaves with a peak power of about 3 GW and a pulse duration of about 60 ns were obtained in a MILO device with the carbon fiber array cathode. The preliminary experimental results show that the shot-to-shot reproducibility of the diode current and the microwave power is stable until 700 shots. No obvious damage or deterioration can be observed in the carbon fiber surface morphology after 700 shots. Moreover, the cathode performance has no observable deterioration after 700 shots. In conclusion, the maintain-free lifetime of the carbon fiber array cathode is more than 700 shots. In this way, this carbon fiber array cathode offers a potential replacement for the existing velvet cathode.