Influence of anode plasma on the operation of diode with explosive emission cathode

The results of study of planar vacuum diode with explosive emission cathode when the pulsed electron beam is generated with the current density of 0.3-0.4 kA/cm² are presented in the report. The analysis of various mechanisms of anode plasma action on the deviation of electron current from the value described by the correlation of Child-Langmuir - reduction of anode-cathode gap, compensation of volumetric electron charge, and additional input of electrons and ions of anode plasma to the total diode current has been performed. The experiments have been done with the use of pulsed electron accelerator TEU-500 (350-450 kV, 100 ns, 250 J per pulse) in the matching mode of diode impedance and output resistance of nanosecond generator. It has been shown that a significant influence of anode plasma on the operation of planar diode with the explosive emission cathode appears only in 70-80 ns after the voltage pulse application. At that the additional current of anode plasma electrons brings the most significant input to the deviation of diode current basing from the calculated data.