Faraday Cup with Nanosecond Response and Adjustable Impedance for Fast Electron Beam Characterization

Abstract

A movable Faraday cup design with simple structure and adjustable impedance is described in this work. This Faraday cup has external adjustable shunt resistance for self-biased measurement setup and 50 Ω characteristic impedance to match with 50 ? standard BNC coaxial cable and vacuum feedthroughs for nanosecond-level pulse signal measurements. Adjustable shunt resistance allows self-biased measurements to be quickly acquired to determine the electron energy distribution function. The performance of the Faraday cup is validated by tests of response time and amplitude of output signal. When compared with a reference source, the percent difference of the Faraday cup signal fall time is less than 10% for fall times greater than 10 ns. The percent difference of the Faraday cup signal pulse width is below 6.7% for pulse widths greater than 10 ns. A pseudospark-generated electron beam is used to compare the amplitude of the Faraday cup signal with a calibrated F-70 commercial current transformer. The error of the Faraday cup output amplitude is below 10% for the 4-14 kV tested pseudospark voltages. The main benefit of this Faraday cup is demonstrated by adjusting the external shunt resistance and performing the self-biased method for obtaining the electron energy distribution function. Results from a 4 kV pseudospark discharge indicate a "double-humped" energy distribution.

Department(s)

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Keywords and Phrases

Electron Beams; Electric Measurements; Electron Energy Distribution Functions; Resistors; Faraday Cups

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

0034-6748

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2011 American Institute of Physics (AIP), All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Jan 2011

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