Status of the Eltrap project.

The Malmberg-Penning trap Eltrap recently installed at the University of Milano, features a magnetic field with a high degree of uniformity in a relatively large plasma volume, and an enhanced light collection by the CCD camera. A modular electrode design allows several variations of the experimental configuration, suitable both for electron confinement and beam studies. The major electronic components of the apparatus are a waveform generator, which controls the inject-hold-dump cycle, and two personal computers, which control the data acquisition, the setting, and the timing of the experiments. Different electron sources have been proposed for the project, and studies for advanced source production are in progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]