Jitter suppression in a CFA by the use of a field emitter array

A cold-cathode cross-field amplifier (CFA) was built with a 1.5-million-point field emitter array embedded in the cathode just before the start of the active region of the tube. The intention was to reduce jitter, which is a severe problem in these tubes at very low pulse repetition frequencies. Peak jitter at 1 Hz p.r.f. was reduced by two orders of magnitude on average, compared to a control tube built without the array; r.m.s jitter was reduced by one order of magnitude. Reasons for this difference are discussed.<>