Analysis of Experimental Results on Pseudospark Discharge-Based Electron Beams With Simulation Model

In this paper, simulation studies have been performed to analyze the role of plasma for sheet-electron beam propagation inside a drift space region filled with argon gas using particle-in-cell simulation code VSim6.2. The sheet-electron beam has been propagated inside the drift space of size 100 mm × 100 mm × 200 mm. A beam emitter of size 7 mm × 1 mm, which is equal to size of anode aperture, has been taken at the entrance of the drift space with identical operating conditions to the experiments, i.e., beam voltage 17 kV, beam current 156 A, and argon gas pressure 11 Pa. The transversal and longitudinal distribution of the sheet-electron beam is mainly dependent on beam voltage and current and also on gas pressure inside the drift space. The simulated images of the sheet-electron beam inside the drift space region have been compared with the experimental ones under these conditions. A good agreement has been found between the experimental and simulation results. This analysis has helped in obtaining transient plasma parameters, such as ion density, space charge neutralization time, and secondary electron temperature, simultaneously. These parameters are also analyzed at different operating conditions in the drift space region for sheet-beam stability. The operating condition at which a sheet-electron beam propagation up to 80 mm without any external magnetic field and instability has been obtained and the same has been explained on the basis of charge neutralization factor.