Increasing the operation stability of the electron accelerator based on ion-electron emission

This paper presents the results of studying the stability of the plasma emitter of an electron accelerator based on ion-electron emission during the transition from self-sustained continuous to self-sustained frequency (up to 50 kHz) repetitively pulsed generation of an auxiliary glow discharge with a hollow cathode with an area of 20.8×103 cm2 The experimental dependences of the probability of the appearance of cathode spots on the walls of a hollow cathode per unit time on the operating modes of the plasma emitter (pressure and type of working gas, amplitude of the auxiliary discharge current) are presented.

Experimental installation for studying cathode plasma processes in vacuum gap of pulsed electron accelerator with gas or liquid injection

One of the directions of using plasma sources is the formation of plasma emitters for electron beams as part of direct-action charged particle accelerators. The parameters of the accelerator generators require mutual matching with the characteristics of the plasma emitters. The paper describes the design, composition and diagnostic equipment of an experimental stand based on a vacuum chamber of a pulsed electron accelerator for testing plasma sources of pulsed electron beams. The stand includes a vacuum volume with a high-voltage bushing, pumping out pipes, diagnostic windows along the perimeter and a mounting flange of a complex device for diagnosing the characteristics of pulsed electron beams. The stand provides the possibility of controlled supply of gas and liquid to the formation region of the plasma emitter of electrons under the influence of an accelerating voltage pulse. The location of the diagnostic windows and flanges of the stand allows direct optical observations of the plasma formation region in the frontal and profile directions. The use of the stand will make it possible to determine the characteristics of the tested plasma emitters for their operation as part of a vacuum diode of pulsed electron accelerator.

Using a fiber optic sensor for registration of pulsed plasma discharge current

The problem of increasing the accuracy of recording the pulse shape of a rapidly changing current of a powerful plasma emitter under conditions of powerful electromagnetic interference is considered. To register high-current pulsed discharges, it is proposed to use a polarimetric fiber-optic current sensor based on a Spun-type fiber. Using the indicated current sensor, a technique for recording high-current pulsed discharges of a plasma emitter in the mode of time profiling of the current pulse of two high-voltage capacitive storage devices with a total energy of up to 1800 kJ is realized. The discharge chamber, power supply circuits, and the formation of a plasma discharge are described. The design and principle of operation of a prototype of a two-pass polarimetric fiberoptic sensor with a Spun-type fiber and a Faraday compensator of mutual optical anisotropy are presented. The general scheme of current measurements, the sensor calibration scheme is presented, and the experience of using a prototype sensor for measuring high-power pulse currents is described. The features of the preliminary calibration of the sensor are discussed. The results of measuring the current by optical and traditional recording methods based on the Rogowski coil and Hall sensors are compared with each other, and a noticeable increase in the accuracy of reproducing the current pulse shape by the optical recording method is noted. Possible options for upgrading a fiber-optic sensor to expand the range of current recording are considered.