Study of plasma-filled, magnetized foilless diode and production of electron beam with high current density

Production of the electron beam with a high current density in a foilless plasma-filled diode, immersed in a strong axial magnetic field, is studied. The plasma parameters in the diode are investigated with the CO 2 laser interferometer (λ = 10.6 μm ) in a wide range of temporal scales - from hundreds of microseconds for the preliminary plasma, filling the diode gap, down to tens of nanoseconds for the explosive cathode plasma during the time of beam generation. The determined dependences of the beam parameters on the density of preliminary plasma made it possible to optimize the design of foilless diode for the purpose of obtaining an electron beam with diameter of about 0.5 cm and current density more than 50 kA/cm 2 .