Design of high-voltage and high-brightness pseudospark-produced electron beam source for a Raman free-electron laser

The design of a pseudospark chamber, a high-voltage (.100 kV), high-current density, low-emittance and high-brightness electron beam source which can provide high-quality beams for free-electron la- sers (FELs), driven by a modified pulse line accelerator, is presented. Based on the hollow cathode (HC) effect and the pseudospark (PS) empirical formula, the HC parameters, the cathode-anode separation, and the working gas pressure region are determined. The general ex- perimental setup of the high-brightness PS-produced electron beam source is shown. © 1996 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation En- gineers. Subject terms: high-brightness electron beam; pseudospark; pulse line accelera- tor.