High-current long-duration uniform electron beam generation in a diode with multicapillary carbon-epoxy cathode.

The results of reproducibly generating an electron beam with a current density of up to 5 kA/cm2, without the cathode-anode gap being shorted by the plasma formed inside the cathode carbon-epoxy capillaries, in a ∼350 kV, ∼600 ns diode, with and without an external guiding magnetic field, are presented. The cathode sustained hundreds of pulses without degradation of its emission properties. Time- and space-resolved emissions of the plasma and spectroscopy analyses were used to determine the cathode plasma's density, temperature, and expansion velocity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]