Autoacceleration of an Intense Relativistic Electron Beam

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
A novel autoacceleration mechanism was used to double the particle energy in a pulsed relativistic electron beam. This mechanism increases electron kinetic energy at the expense of pulse duration. Acceleration is accomplished by passing the beam through a cavity structure inserted into a conventional drift tube. Experimental results showed that the mean electron kinetic energy was increased from about 0.5 to 1.0 MeV, while the beam duration decreased from about 50 to 25 nsec. The total energy efficiency of the process was approximately 75%.