Producing high-current nanosecond electron pulses with a standard tungsten hairpin gun

Abstract
The standard triode electron gun of a commercial electron microscope was operated in a pulsed mode, by heating the tungsten hairpin with a focused frequency-doubled radiation of a Q-switched Nd-YAG laser (25 ns FWHM, approximately=100 mu J). The standard thermal gun can be operated in the high-current pulsed mode without obstructing the conventional routine DC operation. Depending on the laser pulse energy the electron emission consisted of single or double pulses, the second pulse being due to field-assisted thermal emission from a splashing melt. Pulses with <or approximately=50 ns FWHM and amplitudes of 1.6 mA (300 times the maximum DC current) were generated.

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