A STUDY OF ELECTRON BEAM GENERATED IN THE FOCUS PLASMA REGION

Abstract

In a low energy plasma focus energized by a 32 ~F, 15 kV (3.6) kJ single capacitor, electron beam is extracted through the anode by drilling a ~ 20 cm long , 0 . 5 cm dia through hole at the anode axis. A special ertalon vacuum chamber is designed and developed which may be attached to the anode, without any chance of electrical breakdown across the Faraday cup and the anode. The system is operated with Argon as filling gas and correlation of electron beam signal intensity with IL signal is investigated. It is found that besides the identical working conditions of the device, some which seem beyond the operator ' s control, mechanisms govern the development of electron beam and high voltage spike due to rapid convergence of the system's inductance. It is speculated that a simultaneous study of electron beam, ion beam , X-ray and high voltage probe (IL) signals may help to understand the phenomena involved and hence to improve the shot to shot reproducibility of the system.