Effective regimes of runaway electron beam generation in helium,hydrogen, and nitrogen

Runaway electron beam parameters and current-voltage characteristics of discharge in helium, hydrogen, and nitrogen at pressures in the range of several Torr to several hundred Torr have been studied. It is found that the maximum amplitudes of supershort avalanche electron beams (SAEBs) with a pulse full width at half maximum (FWHM) of ∼100 ps are achieved in helium, hydrogen, and nitrogen at a pressure of ∼60, ∼30, and ∼10 Torr, respectively. It is shown that, as the gas pressure is increased in the indicated range, the breakdown voltage of the gas-filled gap decreases, which leads to a decrease in the SAEB current amplitude. At pressures of helium within 20–60 Torr, hydrogen within 10–30 Torr, and nitrogen within 3–10 Torr, the regime of the runaway electron beam generation changes and, by varying the pressure in the gas-filled diode in the indicated intervals, it is possible to smoothly control the current pulse duration (FWHM) from ∼100 to ∼500 ps, while the beam current amplitude increases by a factor of 1.5–3.