Investigation of Basic Physics Processes in the Pasotron HPM Source.

摘要

The thrust of the joint UMD/HRL research program was to improve the understanding of physics issues in the operation of the pasotron, and to - exploit this knowledge by improving the tube's performance. This study was extremely successful. The innovation of using a tailored-profile, plasma neutralized electron beam yielded an increase in the total pasotron efficiency 17% to -32%, and an electron efficiency of -40%. Moreover, our theoretical results indicate that the pasotron efficiency, after optimization, may be as high as 60-70%. Both theoretical and experimental results will be described below.