Experimental research on intense pulsed emission of carbon nanotube cathode

The intense pulsed emission property of the large area carbon nanotube(CNT) cathode made by dipping method has been researched on the 2 MeV linear induction accelerator (LIA) injector. Results show that the CNT cathode has a capability of emitting an intense electron beam and achieving high emission current density under pulsed high voltage. The mechanism of electron emission in the CNT cathode is plasma-induced field emission. In the experiment, the maximal emission currents were 350 A on the sampling resistance ring at cathode and 167 A collected by the Faraday cup at anode. The highest emission current density at cathode was 19.4 A/cm2.