A sub-nanosecond rise time intense electron beam source

This paper presents the design and development of a 75 kV, 55 A, 2 nanosecond duration, <= 850 ps rise time, single shot, intense (> 100 A/cm(2)) electron beam source and also the measurement technique adopted in sub-nanosecond regime. A 200 kV (nanosecond pulse) coaxial pulse forming line (PFL) based pulser is designed to drive a cold cathode explosive emission electron gun. The electron gun diode consists with a planer graphite cathode, which has the emission area of 8mm diameter and a SS 304L anode mesh. Vacuum is achieved of the order of 3.5e-5 mbar by using a diffusion pump, backed by rotary pump. At the diagnostic side for diode voltage measurement a fast response copper sulphate aqueous solution resistive voltage divider is designed and implemented. For the beam current diagnostic a graphite Faraday cup is designed with taking care of response time in GHz (1.0-3.0 GHz) regime. The circuit diagram, voltage and current waveforms and the experimental setup is presented.