Interaction of a beam of fast electrons with solids

The interaction of a high current relativistic electron beam with solid targets is analyzed. The conditions of the beam separation from the target are presented and the energy losses due to collective effects are evaluated for the cases of metals and dielectrics. The energy losses in dielectrics are higher because of the ionization of atoms in the beam self-consistent electric field. The problem of ion acceleration at the solid-vacuum interface is also considered.