Pulsed DC accelerator for Laser Wakefield accelerator

For the acceleration of ultra-short, high-brightness electron bunches, a pulsed DC accelerator was constructed. The pulser produces megavolt pulses of 1 ns duration in a vacuum diode. Results are presented from field emission of electrons in the diode. The results indicate that the accelerating gradient in the diode is approximately 1.5 GV/m.