Power Increase of the Electron Source Based on the Plasma-Filled Diode

The technique of a linear transformer driver (LTD) now allows building the generators of high-power nanosecond pulses with the current rise time of $\sim 100$ ns without intermediate power compression stages. This technique is being examined for use in high-current high-voltage electron sources based on plasma-filled diodes. The power of a plasma-filled diode is determined by the driving circuit parameters and the transition diode resistance. The problem of power rise can be solved by increasing the stored energy in the circuit inductance provided that the diode resistance rise rate is constant. In experiments on the LTD (53 nF, 480 kV), the possibility has been checked out for such increase in the stored energy. A current increase from 50 to 180 kA was obtained by increasing the current rise rate from 0.4 to 1.9 kA/ns. Stored energy has been increased, respectively, from 0.2 to 3.6 kJ. The time of energy transfer into the circuit inductance was about 120–140 ns. Maintaining the diode resistance rise rate at 0.5 $\Omega $ /ns has been shown. Diode power has been increased up to 170 GW. Further increase in power of the plasma-filled diode has been obtained using simulation circuit of the Megavolt (MV) range LTD. To simulate such a linear transformer, the driver circuit was made as Marx generator with coaxial water line (5.3 $\Omega $ , 56 ns, and 1.5 MV), providing a current input of 160 kA into the 550-nH inductance in 120 ns. Stored energy in the inductance was about 7 kJ. The following diode parameters were obtained: 150 kA, 1.9 MV, and 250 GW at a resistance rise rate more than 0.5 $\Omega $ /ns. The experiments prove that the resistance rise rate of the plasma-filled diode is constant on increasing the stored energy in the inductance up to 7 kJ. It allows scaling the power of an electron source based on the plasma-filled diode.