Transport of noise fluctuations in convergent flow crossed-field electron guns

The transport of noise fluctuations in convergent flow or so-called Kino-type crossed-field electron guns is investigated in terms of a two-dimensional computer simulation of the gun by the well-known Monte Carlo method for studying stochastic processes. The exact electrode configurations are simulated in the computer memory. After sufficient time has elapsed for the electron flow to achieve a steady-state condition 2000 additional time intervals are computed and then a statistical analysis is made of the fluctuation quantities. Six emission spots are considered on a finite-width cathode. The analysis is facilitated by the development of a rapid method for the solution of Poisson's equation (two-dimensional). Of particular interest in the results is the improved laminarity of the flow in the KG-M gun and the fact that there is significant space-charge smoothing throughout the gun region in both Kino-type guns. Of greater significance and as yet not explainable is the fact that Ψ versus ωct has local peaks when the space-charge density, which is spatially varying, passes through the Brillouin value (ω_{p}-ω_{c}for this condition). This knowledge could be profitably used in deciding on the location of the gun exit plane. The fact that the laminarity of the flow is sensitive to slight changes in the electric field near the cathode indicates that an absolute evaluation of the noise performance of KG-A and KG-M guns is difficult and may only be obtained through appropriate experiments.