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Lanthanum hexaboride ( LaB6) hollow cathodes have demonstrated a capability for long life operation, which is critical to many space exploration missions. Thermal characterization of LaB6 hollow cathodes has revealed lower than expected electron emitter temperatures when the cathode reaches a steady state. This phenomenon is observed at discharge currents ranging from 5 to 35 A and xenon mass flow rates of 5–25 SCCM in cathodes with three different orifice diameters. Thus, the currently accepted value of the work function for polycrystalline LaB6, 2.67 eV, does not describe well the emission characteristics of LaB6 hollow cathodes operating with internal gas discharges at a steady state. We use empirically measured temperatures combined with a model of the hollow cathode emitter and xenon discharge to estimate the value of the work function, yielding a value ranging from 2.1 to 2.44 eV. This lower work function value implies that LaB6 hollow cathodes are expected to have even longer lifetimes than previously anticipated, further establishing them as a more suited alternative to other conventional cathode technologies for the task of long duration travel. Direct measurements of the work function as a function of depth on a hollow cathode emitter using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and ion beam milling indicate that the work function decreases with depth. We postulate several mechanisms that could explain the observed work function enhancement. Altogether, our results have important implications to the design, study approach, and operation of LaB6 cathodes and potentially other cathodes with hollow configuration. Finally, our work opens the question of why the work function is reduced upon interaction with Xe plasma.

Thermionic energy converters (TECs) convert heat or light into electrical energy based on electron emission in vacuum. By using a cathode consisting of metal nanostructures, plasmonic thermionic energy converters (PTECs) can overcome challenges concerning high operation temperature, which hinders the use of TEC for solar–thermal energy conversion. However, there is lack of theoretical analysis to describe the mechanism behind PTEC and to guide the design of device. In this study, we developed a simple model to calculate the power conversion efficiency of PTEC consisting of metal nanostructure cathodes, also named as vacuum photoelectric energy converter (VPEC) with plasmon-enhanced electron emitter, in this work. The distribution of plasmon-induced hot electrons was calculated using Fermi's golden rule. Under the assumption of ballistic transport and photoemission, the performance of VPEC was analyzed under different operating conditions. The results reveal that the size and shape of the nanostructure cathode influence the hot electron emission efficiency. For a cathode consisting of a single silver nanosphere, an optimal nanosphere diameter of ∼15 nm exists with optimal quantum efficiency and energy conversion of 8.71% and 1.88%, respectively, under the illumination of 339 nm light. Besides, the optimal performance for cathode consisting of a silver nanosphere array is ∼33% of that for the single silver nanosphere. This model provides insights into the dynamics of plasmon-induced hot electrons and guidelines for optimizing hot electron devices for photoelectric conversion applications.

Evaluations of the current output from emitter arrays have been carried out based on time-dependent kinetic simulations that include many-body Coulombic contributions from the electron swarm, geometric field enhancements with shielding based on a line charge model, and dynamic screening due to the evolution of the swarm in the position and velocity space. Numerical evaluations are applied to different multi-emitter array arrangements having a hexagonal lattice, with a focus on bimodal distributions. Our results show the expected role of field screening with reductions in emitter separation and positional dependence within the array based on connectivity. Different patterns were examined within a hexagonal lattice structure. For a bimodal distribution, output current optimization is shown for alternating arrangements with three or more successive emitters of the same length along primitive axes predicted to have an advantage.

An experimental and computational study of the secondary electron yield (SEY) of copper foam is presented. Ray-tracing Monte Carlo (MC) simulations, based on primary electron transport and interactions with the electron system in solid and foam-type copper, are also included. The 3D reticulated foam geometry is explicitly represented in the MC model. This allows the influence of the complex copper surface on the energy and angular dependence of the SEY to be determined. Experimental measurements of SEY were performed in a high-vacuum electron gun chamber. Solid copper and copper foam with 100 pores per inch and a 4.6% volume fraction were tested for energy and angular dependence of SEY. Incident angles were varied from 0 ° to 75 ° and electron beam energy ranged from 20 eV to 570 eV. The agreement between MC simulations and experiments suggests that a general reduction of the SEY by around 20% is due to the interaction and subsequent adsorption of a fraction of emitted secondary electrons on the internal surfaces of the reticulated foam. Moreover, it is found that the SEY becomes nearly independent of the incident electron energy above 200 eV for steep angles of incidence ( θ > 45 °).

The scanning electron microscope (SEM) is a powerful tool for analyzing the surface of various specimens. SEM observation at low voltage, which is typically lower than the 1 kV range, is very effective for obtaining surface information of specimens. However, at the low voltage range, resolution is restricted by the brightness and energy spread of electron sources. Therefore, to improve the resolution, a bright and monochromatic electron source is indispensable. In this work, we focused on an electron gun with a negative electron affinity photocathode using p-type GaAs and Cs–O adsorbates. The resolution of a prototype SEM was improved by approximately 16% compared with a SEM using a conventional Schottky emission (SE)-type emitter at the acceleration voltage of 1 kV. In addition, results showed that the measured brightness was as high as an SE-type emitter (∼107 A/m2/sr/V) and the estimated energy spread was less than 0.2 eV, which was narrower than that of a cold field emission-type emitter.

A cold electron emitter has been fabricated based on nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si) quantum dots formed in the gas phase by very-high-frequency plasma decomposition of SiH4. A small size of less than 10 nm and the spherical shape of the nc-Si dots facilitated the generation of hot electrons. Electrons with kinetic energies higher than the work function of the top electrode were extracted into vacuum through the electrode. A planarization process of the nc-Si layer by annealing enhanced the electron emission efficiency to 5%. Efficiency was optimized by varying the thicknesses of the nc-Si layer, the SiO2 layer, and the top electrode film.

A technique of laser-pulse shaping was developed for low-emittance electron-beam generation in a photocathode radio-frequency (rf) gun. The emittance growth due to space charge and rf effects in the rf gun was experimentally investigated with square and gaussian temporal pulse shapes. It was found that the square pulse shaping was a useful tool for both the reduction of nonlinear space-charge force and the correction of linear space charge. The normalized transverse rms emittance at 1 nC was obtained to be 1.20 πmm-mrad for the square pulse shape with pulse length of 9 ps full width at half maximum. The emittance was measured as a function of the electron bunch charge and the laser-pulse length.

A numerical study of the application of a pulsed cold cathode electron gun to materials processing is performed. A simple semiempirical model of the discharge is used, together with backscattering and energy deposition profiles obtained by a Monte Carlo technique, in order to evaluate the energy source term inside the material. The numerical computation of the heat equation with the calculated source term is performed in order to obtain useful information on melting and vaporization thresholds, melted radius and depth, and on the dependence of these variables on processing parameters such as operating pressure, initial voltage of the discharge and cathode–sample distance. Numerical results for stainless steel are presented, which demonstrate the need for several modifications of the experimental design in order to achieve a better efficiency.

Strong pulsed electron emission has been observed from 12/65/35 lead lanthanum zirconate titanate ceramic composition in two different nonswitched phases at room temperature and at the temperature 100 °C. The electron emission parameters of this composition appear to be independent of phase for the two phases investigated. Fast photography and direct observation show that the strong electron emission occurs from the surface discharge plasma. The new experimental data make it possible to demonstrate the validity of the Child–Langmuir law for this electron emitter. A pulsed plasma lead lanthanum zirconate titanate ceramic cathode with burst frequency up to 100 kHz and collector current density up to 10 A/cm2 is developed.

A two-stage ferroelectric electron gun is employed in a free-electron maser (FEM) oscillator experiment. This gun produces a pulsed electron beam of a 5–15 keV energy, ∼0.5 A current, and ∼3% energy spread. The FEM output microwave pulse train is coupled out with a 66 W peak power. The microwave frequency is tunable in the range of 2.9–3.3 GHz by varying the electron beam energy. The interaction mechanism is identified by a comparison to the known FEM tuning relation. The energy spread of the two-stage ferroelectric electron gun satisfies the FEM acceptance parameter in the microwave regime.

The plasma‐anode electron gun (PAG) is an electron source in which the thermionic cathode is replaced with a cold, secondary‐electron‐emitting electrode. Electron emission is stimulated by bombarding the cathode with high‐energy ions. Ions are injected into the high‐voltage gap through a gridded structure from a plasma source (gas pressure ≤50 mTorr) that is embedded in the anode electrode. The gridded structure serves as both a cathode for the plasma discharge and as an anode for the PAG. The beam current is modulated at near ground potential by modulating the plasma source, eliminating the need for a high‐voltage modulator system. During laboratory tests, the PAG has demonstrated square‐wave, 17‐μs‐long beam pulses at 100 kV and 10 A, and it has operated stably at 70 kV and 2.5 A for 210 μs pulse lengths without gap closure.

The Stanford Linear Accelerator Center is currently operating with a photocathode electron gun (PEG) to produce polarized electrons for its experimental program. Bunch intensities of up to 1011 electrons within 2 ns (8 A) are required from the electron gun. Operation of PEG has demonstrated a charge limit phenomenon, whereby the charge that can be extracted from the gun with an intense laser beam saturates at significantly less than 1011 electrons (the expected space‐charge‐limited charge) when the photocathode quantum efficiency is low. Studies of this charge limit phenomenon observed with a GaAs photocathode are reported.

Electrode shapes appropriate to diodes with non‐space‐charge‐limited flow (e.g., laser‐irradiated photocathodes) and high‐power (eV0 ≳ mc2) are derived. The electrode shapes are designed to keep the electron beam rectilinear, and generalize the shapes derived by Pierce for space‐charge‐limited cathodes in low‐power diodes.

In charged particle beams, one of the roles played by space charge is to couple the transverse and longitudinal dynamics of the beam. This can lead to very complex phenomena which are generally studied using computer simulations. However, in some cases models based on phenomenological or analytic approximations can provide valuable insight into the system behavior. In this paper, we employ such approximations to investigate the conditions under which all the slices of a space charge dominated electron beam with slowly varying current could be focused to a waist with the same radius and at the same location, independent of slice current, and show that this can be accomplished approximately if the initial transverse-longitudinal correlation introduced onto the beam by the electron gun is chosen to compensate for the transverse-longitudinal correlation introduced onto the beam in the drift section. The validity of our approximations is assessed by use of progressively more realistic calculations. We also consider several design elements of electron guns that affect the initial correlations in the beams they generate.

A dc high‐current and low‐energy electron beam gun has been developed. The maximum electron beam current is 63 A for an accelerating energy of 140 eV. The maximum ratio of the beam current to the discharge current is 78%. The ion current, which is extracted from the helium plasma produced by the electron beam, is 12.3 A. This value corresponds to the current density of about 7 A/cm2, which is the highest value among the ion sources in steady operation. The electron density of the plasma is estimated from the ion saturation current to be about 4.6×1013 cm−3, which corresponds to the degree of ionization of 21%. This gun will open the way for many electron beam applications.

When a modulated beam is produced in a DC electron gun, the time-dependent space charge force and the time-independent focusing force produce a correlation between current, position along the beam, and the beam’s radius and divergence. This has implications for beam extraction and downstream beam transport. Here, we simulate an electrostatically-focused DC electron gun to study this correlation. Beam radius and divergence at the anode are found to be approximately linear functions of beam current, and the consequences for beam loss and extraction are considered.

A fine-focusing x-ray source has been constructed employing a field electron emitter prepared by growing carbon-nanofibers (CNFs) on a metal tip. The x-ray source is composed of a CNF field electron emitter, an electrostatic lens, two magnetic lenses, and a W-target for generating x-rays by electron impact. The CNFs provided field electrons with a current density of J∼5×109 A/m2, which was evaluated with the aid of Fowler–Nordheim theory. The electron beam extracted from the CNF emitter was accelerated to the energies of E=10–25 keV, and then focused by the lenses. By recording the x-ray images of test charts, the optimum resolution of the x-ray source was estimated to be approximately Dx=0.5 μm.

The effects of surface treatments in H2, N2, and O2 on electron emission have been investigated for a ferroelectric electron emitter with a unique porous electrode. The electron emission was markedly enhanced after surface treatment in H2 at 90 kPa. The electron emission density was about 500 nC/cm2, 1.6 times higher than that of a nontreated emitter. On the other hand, electron emission after surface treatment in O2 at 90 kPa was decreased to about two-third of that of the nontreated emitter. These results indicate that electron emission can be significantly influenced by modification of the ferroelectric surface state.

We have designed a femtosecond electron gun suitable for ultrafast electron diffraction experiments, operating in the 30–100 kV regime. The concept is based on recompression of chirped expanding electron pulses emitted from a direct current photogun using a novel dispersion-corrected reflectron concept. We show, using detailed numerical simulations, that our design is capable of producing electron pulses containing 200 000 electrons with a full width at half maximum pulse duration of 130 fs, a root mean squared (rms) pulse radius of 140 μm, and transverse coherence length of 1.5 nm at 100 kV. Our analysis includes the bunch properties at the sample, as well as interactions of the main pulse of high charge density with diffracted electrons. Since our design employs only static electron optics, we believe that it will be easier to implement than concepts based on radio frequency compression.

金沢大学理工研究域電子情報学系, An optical emission scheme was demonstrated, in which a high-refractive-index waveguide is excited by a traveling electron beam in a vacuum environment. The waveguide was made of Si- SiO2 layers. The velocity of light propagating in the waveguide was slowed down to 1/3 of that in free space due to the high refractive index of Si. The light penetrated partly into the vacuum in the form of a surface wave. The electron beam was emitted from an electron gun and propagated along the surface of the waveguide. When the velocity of the electron coincided with that of the light, optical emission was observed. This emission is a type of Cherenkov radiation and is not conventional cathode luminescence from the waveguide materials because Si and SiO2 are transparent to light at the emitted wavelength. This type of emission was observed in an optical wavelength range from 1.2 to 1.6 μm with an electron acceleration voltage of 32-42 kV. The characteristics of the emitted light, such as the polarization direction and the relation between the acceleration voltage of the electron beam and the optical wavelength, coincided well with the theoretical results. The coherent length of an electron wave in the vacuum was confirmed to be equal to the electron spacing, as found by measuring the spectral profile of the emitted light. © 2008 American Institute of Physics.

Passing an electron beam through an aperture can serve to reduce the beam current or change the transverse beam profile. For a sufficiently intense beam, space charge will drive a radial expansion of the beam, which may cause the current passing through the aperture to decrease even though the current arriving at the aperture is increasing. When a gridded electron gun is used, this may be expressed by stating that the transconductance of the apertured gun is negative. Here, we explain this effect and explore some of the key factors governing when it can occur and influencing its strength.

International audience; The calculation of the current in an electron gun structure is one of the main investigations involved in the electron gun physics understanding. In particular, various simulation codes exist but often present some important discrepancies with experiments. Moreover, those differences cannot be reduced because of the lack of physical information in these codes. We present a simple physical three-dimensional model, valid for all kinds of gun geometries. This model presents a better precision than all the other simulation codes and models encountered and allows the real understanding of the electron gun physics. It is based only on the calculation of the Laplace electric field at the cathode, the use of the classical Child-Langmuir's current density, and a geometrical correction to this law. Finally, the intensity versus voltage characteristic curve can be precisely described with only a few physical parameters. Indeed, we have showed that only the shape of the electric field at the cathode without beam, and a distance of an equivalent infinite planar diode gap, govern mainly the electron gun current generation.