Dynamics of Pulsed High Current Relativistic Electron Beams

Pulsed electron beams are formed by the slow charge of a pulse forming network (microseconds to D. C.) and the fast discharge (10 - 100 ns) onto a field emission diode. The resultant beams of kiloamps to megamps at hundreds of keV to ten MeV are passed through a window into the drift region. Ionization in the drift section allows the beam to be confined by its own magnetic field. Secondary electron currents in the plasma tend to neutralize this effect, Recent work on guiding intense beams with auxiliary fields has utilized applied Bz and Bθ (z-pinch) fields. Application of these beams extends from shock studies to ion acceleration.