Particle-in-cell simulations of the lasertron

The lasertron is a device (either RF or DC) for producing intense, very short, pulsed electron beams (tens of picoseconds). In the DC lasertron, a laser is pulsed repetitively onto a photoemissive cathode. In general, the current is not space-charge limited and follows the laser intensity. The electron pulse is then accelerated out of the device by a constant voltage. By using the laser the need for a subharmonic buncher is eliminated. In the RF lasertron, the diode becomes an RF cavity. This improves the breakdown characteristics of the device, allowing higher voltages to be applied and hence higher currents to be obtained. The calculations are aimed at producing a 10 nC electron beam with an emittance of less than 40π mm-mrad for use in free-electron laser experiments at Los Alamos. Other applications of the lasertron include efficient microwave or RF generation. A class of electrode shapes has been obtained which in the absence of space charge produces no emittance growth. These shapes have been studied with the particle-in-cell simulation model ISIS, and the electrodes which produce minimum emittance including the effect of space charge have been determined. Unique emittance problems associated with the time dependence of the beam pulse are studied and conditions for reducing these effects are discussed