Self magnetic insulation of pulsed ion diodes

Pulsed ion diodes magnetically insulated by their own feed currents can be treated in a manner similar to that used for applied field diodes. The self insulated diode has the advantages of easy construction and automatic confinement of the magnetic field to the acceleration gap. On the other hand, the energy that produces the magnetic field is utilized inefficiently. With models for the ion current density it is possible to calculate the optimum electrode shapes of ion diodes to produce a spherical focus. In this application it is shown that the pinched electron diode may not be the most advantageous self insulated geometry.