Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, 5(42), p. 1224-1236, 2014
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The experimental results of a promising pulsed plasma source, producing electron beams with a current density of up to 10 ${rm kA}/{rm cm}^{2}$ are presented. The beam duration was up to ${sim}{rm 1}~mu{rm s}$ , in an accelerating voltage of up to ${sim}{rm 350}~{rm kV}$ , without shorting of the cathode–anode gap by the cathode plasma. This plasma electron source is proven to sustain hundreds of pulses without degradation in its emission properties. The cathode plasma electron density $n_{e},leq,10^{15}~{rm cm}^{-3}$ , electron $T_{e}leq 13~{rm eV}$ and ion $T_{i}leq 4~{rm eV}$ temperatures, and expansion velocity $V_{rm pl}leq 1.6times 10^{6}~{rm cm}/{rm s}$ were determined using time- and space-resolved spectroscopy and light emission.