Characteristics of large-area filamentary guns used for the E-beam stabilization of gas lasers

The development of high-energy electric-discharge lasers has created the requirement for high-voltage large-area uniform-current-density electron beams. This paper describes the characteristics for a class of filamentary electron guns of novel electrode configuration that satisfies these requirements. Expressions are derived for the gun potentials, electric fields, and space-charge-limited current densities. A comparison is made between theoretical and experimental results for a low-voltage model gun. The operating characteristics for large-area high-voltage guns are also discussed.