Adjustable pulse width and high repetition frequency electron beam extraction from vacuum arc plasma

We investigate the generation of high repetition frequency electron beam from vacuum arc plasma source, which consists of Cu cathode and hollow anode. The frequency and pulse width of the extraction pulse power supply based on MOSFET can be adjusted continuously. A self-trigger circuit is designed to immediately reignite DC arc after its extinguishment and guarantee the discharge duration time and stability. The experimental results show that the repletion frequency and pulse width of the electron beam are controlled by the extraction pulse voltage parameters. With a certain discharge current, the beam current increases with the increasing extraction voltage and shows a saturation limit up to 1A. However, the extraction voltage with too high pulse frequency or pulse width is not conducive to the stability of the beam current.