Magnetic Compression of a Long Pulse Electron Beam Produced with an Arc Plasma Emitter

Abstract – This report presents the first experi-mental results on transportation and compression of long-pulse electron beam. Original electron beam source with a plasma emitter was used for beam generation. The source has a multi-aperture two-grid electron optical system (EOS); a plasma emitter was based on the hydrogen arc discharge. Electron beam of 26 keV, 50 A, 250 µs pulse length with 50 A/cm 2 current density was obtained in an axial magnetic field ~ 0.1 T, then it was transported and compressed in a strong increasing magnetic field up to 2 T at the magnetic mirror site. Beam transporting through the magnetic mirror was studied. At the maximum of magnetic field the beam current density of 400 A/cm2 was achieved. 1