A study of pulsed high voltage driven hollow-cathode electron beam sources through synchronous optical trigger

In this study, a pulsed, high voltage driven hollow-cathode electron beam sources through an optical trigger is designed with characteristics of simple structure, low cost, and easy triggering. To validate the new design, the characteristics of hollow-cathode discharge and electron beam characterization under pulsed high voltage drive are studied experimentally and discussed by discharge characteristics and analyses of waveform details, respectively. The validation experiments indicate that the pulsed high voltage supply significantly improves the frequency and stability of the discharge, which provides a new solution for the realization of a high-frequency, high-energy electron beam source. The peak current amplitude in the high-energy electron beam increases from 6.2 A to 79.6 A, which indicates the pulsed power mode significantly improves the electron beam performance. Besides, increasing the capacitance significantly affects the high-current, lower-energy electron beam more than the high-energy electron beam.