DYNAMICS OF A HIGH-CURRENT ELECTRON-BEAM IN AN INVERSE HIGH-POWER ELECTRON DIODE

The inverse triax diode is a low-impedance, high-power electron beam diode. A magnetically unbalanced electron flow in the outer gap, which results in an outward pinch, distinguishes this design. Particle code simulations show that this flow has two possible patterns, depending on the presence or absence of an anode plasma. A model for the beam dynamics based on anode plasma formation and incorporating the simulation results is developed. We compare the predictions of the model to experimental results, including time-resolved x-ray pinhole photographs obtained with a framing x-ray pinhole camera, and find reasonable agreement.