Description of an intense electron beam driven by cesar a 700 kV 350kaA pulsed power generator

Summary form only given. Cesar is a 2 Omega generator which can deliver a 300 kA, 600 kV, 100 ns pulsed electron beam. It is located at CESTA, complex of the French Atomic Commission near Bordeaux. This device has been used to study materials thermo mechanical response under very quickly deposition of energy. In order to better understand the mechanisms, experiments and numerical computations are driven jointly. Because numerical techniques are under constant progress, it is very important to improve the understanding of the deposition of energy. So this paper will present different results with regard to the characteristics of the electron beam (intensity, energy). It will present also numerical and experimental data about the behavior of materials such as rear surface motion or stress history