Pulsed intense electron beams generated in transient hollow cathode discharges: fundamentals and applications

For the commercial application of pulsed power, material processing with intense pulsed particle beams is a very interesting subject. Recently, high-voltage (1-70 kV), low-pressure (1-100 Pa) transient hollow-cathode discharges turned out to be sources for pulsed intense electron beam generation suitable for this application. The remarkable parameters of these electron beams - beam currents of 50-1000 A (10-30% of the maximum discharge current) with a high energy component (mean energy of about 0. 25-0. 75 of maximum applied voltage) of 20-70% of the maximum beam current, power density up to 10⁹ W/cm², beam diameters of 0. 1-3 mm, beam charge efficiency of 3-5% - captured the attention not only of the scientific community in the last decade. The electron beam is emitted during the early phases of the discharge, and only weak dependence of the high energetic peak of the beam current was found on the external capacity, which determine the development of the later high-current phases. However, the beam parameters depend on the breakdown voltage, gas pressure, and discharge geometry (including self-capacity). In this paper, the characteristics of the pulsed intense electron beams generated in two configurations - multigap pseudosparks and preionization-controlled open-ended hollow-cathode transient discharges (PCOHC) - are described. Such electron beams already were used successfully in a variety of pulsed power applications in material processing, deposition of superconducting (YBaCuO) and diamond-like thin films, microlithography, electron sources for accelerators, and intense point-like X-ray sources, and some preliminary experiments revealed new potential applications such as pumping of short-wavelength laser active media. These pulsed electron beams could be used further in any kind of pulsed power applications that require high-power density, small or high electron energy, and small-beam diameters.