Generation and application of pseudospark-sourced electron beams

A pseudospark (PS) discharge has been shown to be a promising source of high brightness, high intensity electron beam pulses. A PS-sourced electron beam has two phases, an initial hollow cathode phase (HCP) beam followed by a conductive phase (CP) beam. In our experiments, a 22 kV, 50A HCP beam of brightness 10(9-10) A m(-2) rad(-2) followed by a 200 V, 200 A CP beam of brightness 10(11-12) A m(-2) rad(-2) were measured. Experiments have been conducted with the application of a HCP beam in a Cherenkov interaction with no input seed wave and with post-acceleration of the CP beam. In this paper, a new Cherenkov interaction experiment with an input seed wave from a 20 kW, 35 GHz pulsed magnetron has been designed using the same PS HCP beam. Simulation results of the interaction will be presented and further PS electron beam applications will be discussed.