Transport and Measurements of High-Current Electron Beams from X pinches

Generation of electron beams is an unavoidable property of X-pinches and other pulsed-power-driven pinches of different geometry. Some issues concerning high-current electron beam transport from the X pinch to the diagnostic system and measurements of the beam current by Faraday cups with different geometry's are discussed. Of particular interest is the partially neutralized nature of the beam propagating from the X-pinch to a diagnostic system. Two scenarios of electron beam propagation from X-pinch to Faraday cup are analyzed by means of computer simulation using the PIC-code KARAT. The first is longitudinal neutralization by ions extracted from plasma at an output window of the X-pinch diode; the second is the beam transport through a plasma background between the diode and a diagnostic system.