Preliminary design of a THz EIO based on the pseudospark-sourced sheet electron beam

Extended interaction oscillator (EIO) operated in the terahertz range puts greater demand on current density and brightness of electron beam. The pseudospark-sourced (PS) electron beam is an attractive candidate to drive such high frequency EIOs. The study of a THz EIO driven by a PS sheet electron beam is presented. This enables the advantages of a interaction circuit combined with the merits of a PS sheet electron beam, including large beam cross section, high current density and the fact that a PS electron beam does not require the use of an external focusing magnetic field. This paper presents the latest results that demonstrate the design and optimization of THz EIO driven by a 210 mA (500 A/cm
²
) PS-sourced electron beam. A peak power over 0.78 kW at 0.388 THz was achieved using a pseudospark-sourced sheet electron beam.