Anode Materials for High-Average-Power Operation in Vacuum at Gigawatt Instantaneous Power Levels

The thermal behavior of several electrically conducting solids under high incident electron fluence in high vacuum was evaluated. At electron energies of up to ~200 keV, the depth-dose relationship for electron penetration into the materials was considered, and the resulting energy deposition profile from the surface was revealed to extend to a maximum of ~175 μm below the surface depending on the anode material. Black body radiation is considered as the major mechanism that balances the power deposited in the material on the timescales of interest. Comparing the radiated power density at the sublimation temperature for different materials, metallic/nonmetallic, revealed that pyrolytic graphite anodes may radiate over 20 times more power than metallic anodes before failure due to sublimation. In addition, transparent pyrolytic graphite anodes (with a thickness on the order of several tens of micrometer) potentially radiate up to 40 times that of metallic anodes, since heating by the electron beam is approximately uniform throughout the thickness of the material, thus radiation is emitted from both sides. Experimental results obtained from titanium and pyrolytic graphite anodes validate the thermal analysis.