Research on large emission area thermionic cathode

Because it can provide greater reproducibility and lower emittance beams than does a field emission cathode, the thermionic cathodes have now been used in linear induction accelerators to improve the performance of the injectors. The thermionic dispenser cathodes have been developed in our laboratory and a test stand had also been established to test the performance of the cathodes. The dispenser cathodes with emission diameter of 55m and 100mm were respectively tested on the test stand. The results indicate that the source limiting flow is 12A/cm² which is a little lower than that expected. At the same time, another kind of thermionic cathode LaB6 is now under construction too. The diameter of this LaB6 cathode is 70mm.