CERN Accelerating science

Article
Title	Electron Dynamics of the Rod-Pinch Diode in the Cygnus Experiment at Los Alamos
Author(s)	Yin, Lin ; Berninger, M J ; Bowers, Kevin ; Carlson, R ; De Volder, B G ; Kwan, Thomas J T ; Smith, J R ; Snell, C M
Affiliation	(Bechtel Nevada, Los Alamos, New Mexico) ; (LANL, Los Alamos, New Mexico)
Publication	2005
In:	21st IEEE Particle Accelerator Conference, Knoxville, TN, USA, 16 - 20 May 2005, pp.1901
Subject category	Accelerators and Storage Rings
Abstract	In this work, two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations are used to examine the electron physics in the rod-pinch diode, a device that can be used to produce a relatively low-energy (a few MeV) radiographic electron source. It is found that with diode parameters for which the electrons' dominant dynamics are approximated well as a magnetized fluid, the diode produces an electron source with a desired small spot size as the electrons drift to and impinge on the anode tip. However, for a large cathode-to-anode radius ratio, a population of electrons that consists predominantly of electrons emitted from the downstream surface of the cathode is found to propagate in the upstream direction and the diode may perform anomalously as a consequence. A method is proposed for improving the quality of the electron source by suppressing electron emission from the downstream cathode surface to reduce the presence of unmagnetized electrons.