High-Current Electron Gun for Space Flight.
Abstract
The purpose of this project is to determine the feasibility of a conventional triode electron gun and to construct a duoplasmatron electron gun for use on rocket and space shuttle flights. The ideal gun would be capable of modulation up to 50 kHz, capable of beam currents of several tens of amperes, and capable of beam energies from 1 keV to 50 keV. A module of such a triode electron gun was tested in a configuration as close to the flight arrangement as possible, keeping in mind the need for flexibility and experimentation. The structure was a triode arrangement with four separate cathodes and control grids. The results indicate that this type of approach is ultimately limited by fundamental space charge and current density considerations, rather than by the mechanical difficulties of gun design. The triode gun was able to deliver from one of its four cathodes pulsess of of electrons with a beam of energy of 5 KeV and a fully or ppartially modulated current form 1.5 A down to 4mA. One of the four cathodes was operated continuously in a tetrode configuration with a 1 keV beam energy while the current was square-wave modulated from 0 to 500 kHz producing from 1 mA to 450 mA.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 31, 1986
- Accession Number
- ADA179287
Entities
People
- G. Dyer