Emission properties of a plasma cathode based on a glow discharge for generating nanosecond electron beams

The emission properties of a plasma cathode based on a nanosecond pulsed gl ow discharge with currents of up to 200 A at a pressure of 5x10(-2) Pa are studied experimentally. Stable ignition and burning of the discharge are en sured if the current in the auxiliary pulsed discharge is 25-30% of that in the main discharge and its pulse duration exceeds that of the main dischar ge by more than an order of magnitude. Emission current pulses from the cat hode with amplitudes of up to 140 A fully reproduce the discharge current a nd are determined by the transparency of the grid anode. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S1063-7842(99)01111-3].