Current Characteristics of a High-Current Electron Gun with Multi-Gap Initiation of Explosive Emission by Dielectric Surface Flashover

The present work is devoted to the study of current characteristics of a high-current, plasma-filled electron gun with multi-gap initiation of explosive emission by dielectric surface flashover at different accelerating voltages and densities of plasma preliminarily filling the space between the cathode and collector. Multi-gap initiation of explosive emission is performed with the use of resistively decoupled and operating in parallel arc plasma sources which are built-in to the disk explosive-emission cathode. Plasma anode was formed by high-current reflective (Penning) discharge or by hybrid discharge matching Penning discharge with vacuum arcs. Experiments have demonstrated good emissivity of a new cathode assembly, which is approximately 1.5–2 times higher than emissivity of traditional multi-wire copper explosive-emission cathode. Stable operability of this high-current electron gun is confirmed for the amplitude of accelerating voltage in the range of 5–30 kV in contrast to mentioned above traditional gun requiring, at least, 17– 20 kV for reliable operation of the cathode.