The spectra of electron beams produced in air-filled diodes at atmospheric pressure

In recent years, the generation of beams of runaway electrons has been the subject of increasing interest; see review [1] and references in [1]. It was shown that in atmospheric pressure air, the FWHM of the beam current pulse is 0.1 ns at a generator voltage ranging to over 100 kV, and the amplitude of the beam current downstream of the gas diode foil can reach 100 A [2]. The number of fast electrons under these conditions was at a level of about 6·10¹⁰ electron/pulse and up.