A new beam source for free electron lasers

Abstract A high power, high current density and high voltage electron beam was generated with the pseudospark discharge (PS). This is a new approach to high brightness beam source for free electron lasers. The design and construction of the pseudospark discharge is described. The device has low cost and is easy to fabricate. The experimental results are presented, the configuration of the modified pulse line accelerator (PLA) is described. The intense electron beams with a voltage of 200 keV, a current of 2kA, a beam diameter of less than 1 mm, a beam pulse duration of 400 ns and beam emittance of 48 mm mrad were measured. The compact free electron laser with a table size is discussed.