It is well known that TEA-CO2 laser is a kind of high-power laser with enough pulse peak output, and study on TEA-CO2 laser has been consistently conducted for a long period of time. The design of electrode structure, which emits field electrons in TEA-CO2 laser, is a question of finding an effective method for increasing laser power by raising the emission efficiency of field electrons and their utilization.
In practice, the tips of cold-cathode are made in the shape of a needle or a blade. Such tips emit field electrons at low discharge voltage by raising the amplification degree of electric field. When the electric field strength at the tips is too high, the lifetime of tips will be shortened owing to the cathode sputtering. The field electron generator that contains cold-cathode provides high vacuum of 10-4Pa.
The Marx generator supplies electric power to the generator of field electrons. Here, such geometric parameters as the height and basal width of tips and the size of anode cells are all related to the amplification degree of electric field. The electric field strength at the tips is affected by not only the shape and size of each tip but also their arrangement. When high voltage is applied to the cathode, the existent electric fields in the vicinity of the tips interact with each other, which obviously influences the electric field strength at the tips.
Pak Sin Hyok, a researcher at the Institute of Nano Science and Technology, has designed an electrode structure of cold cathode and grid anode with a high amplification degree of electric field strength at the tip, in consideration of the tip’s parameters, the arrangement of electrode structure, etc.
He designed the tips as a triangle, and simulated the electric field in the discharge region by the COMSOL Multiphysics software while changing the size and array interstice of tips and the dimension of grid anode corresponding to the tips. On this basis, he found out the optimum design parameters of electrode for raising the amplification degree of electric field strength at a tip to the maximum.
The simulation result shows that the optimum interstice of tips that provides the maximum amplification degree of electric field was 8mm, and the amplification degree of electric field strength was 1.2.
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