GENERATION OF AN ELECTRON-BEAM AND PULSES OF MICROWAVE-RADIATION USING THE ENERGY OF CHEMICAL EXPLOSIVES

Experiments in the generation of a relativistic electron beam and puls ed microwave radiation using the energy of chemical explosives were pe rformed. A vircator based on a triode with a virtual cathode was chose n as the microwave generator. For transformation of the explosion ener gy into electromagnetic energy, high voltage magnetocumulative generat ors with magnetic flux interception energized by helical magnetocumula tive generators were developed. Electric-fuze circuit breakers were us ed to match the impedances of the magnetocumulative generators and the vircator, as well as to form the necessary shape of the electrical pu lse. As a result, voltage pulses of up to 600 kV with the rise time co ngruent-to 60 ns were applied to the vircator, and the current amplitu de in the triode reached 16 kA. The peak power of microwave radiation brought out into the atmosphere was at least 100 MW. A model is propos ed that describes the performance of the circuit and its elements, and its reasonable agreement with experiment is shown.