Simulation of the pinch effect in high current diodes

Abstract

In the present paper, a thorough consideration is given to the explosive electron emission in high-current diodes. The method has been suggested for numerical simulation of the high-current diode behavior. The distinction of this method is that the normal component of the electric field across the cathode surface is not deliberately set to zero, but vanishes in the normal course of events as a result of complicated particle dynamics near the cathode surface. The performed analysis enabled developing the program for calculation of the charged-particle dynamics in a high-current diode under the pinch effect.