Enhancement of the electric strength of vacuum insulation by pulsed electron beam treatment

The paper presents the results of a study of the pulsed electric strength of millimeter vacuum gaps with stainless-steel electrodes preirradiated with a low-energy, high-current electron beam. With 250 kV, 40 ns pulses, a breakdown strength of /spl sime/2.2 MV/cm has been achieved. The possibility of using pulsed electron beam irradiation for treating parts of the Saturn system with a view to diminishing current leakage is discussed.