Two-pulse generation of high-current relativistic electron beams and their transportation in the gaseous medium of a plasmochemical reactor

Abstract

Experimental results on two-pulse generation and transportation of high-current relativistic electron beams (REBs) through the gaseous medium of a plasmochemical reactor (PR) are presented. The generation of two consecutive high-current REB pulses with a duration of 60 ns was achieved at the Tonus accelerator with modified schemes of high-voltage pulse formation. The first version of the formation scheme enabled pulse powers of 2 and 4.0–9.6 GW with a time interval between the pulses of 500 ns. The second version enabled one to generate pulses with powers of 1.8 and 16 GW and time interval between the pulses of 160 µs. The transportation parameters of an REB injected into a 1.4-m-long PR filled with an N2: O2 gas mixture are studied. The conductance of the plasma produced under the action of the electron beams is measured. It is shown that the schemes proposed provide more efficient (by 35–45%) transportation of the REBs in the reactor volume as compared to single-pulse high-current REBs of the same power and pulse duration.