High Average Current Electron Beam Generation Using RF Gated Thermionic Electron Gun

High-current electron beams can significantly enhance the productivity of variety of applications including medical radioisotope (RI) production and wastewater purification. High-power superconducting radio frequency (SRF) linacs are capable of producing such high-current electron beams due to the key advantage to operate in continuous wave (CW) mode. However, this requires an injector capable of generating electron bunches with high repetition rate and in CW mode, while minimizing beam losses to avoid damage to SRF cavities due to quenching. RF gating to the grid of a thermionic electron gun is a promising solution, as it ensures CW bunch generation at the repetition rate same as the fundamental or sub-harmonics of the accelerating RF frequency, with minimal beam loss. This paper presents the simulation results for the electron gun with RF gating generating high-current beam.