Development of low-pressure high-current plasma cathode electron gun and use of associated techniques

A plasma cathode electron (PCE) gun has capabilities for generating high-current, broad, and focused beams for plasma-assisted microwave sources. A pseudospark-based hollow cathode PCE gun has been designed and developed for microwave generation which is operated in argon atmosphere. An analysis of the electron beam profile inside the drift space at different operating conditions has been carried out. This has been performed at several axial and radial locations inside the drift space which shows coherent phases of beam profiles in radial direction. The focusing and defocusing points in axial direction are also obtained. The beam current at different axial location for different applied voltages has been estimated. The obtained beam current is in close agreement with the beam current estimated by the particle-in-cell simulation code for the same geometry.