A synchroscan streak tube with high deflection sensitivity

Abstract

A synchroscan streak tube with high spatiotemporal resolution and high deflection sensitivity is proposed, which contains several innovation designs. Some measures are taken to improve the imaging performances of the streak tube. Firstly, in order to obtain a high deflection sensitivity, the difference in voltage between the photocathode and anode and the length of the equipotential region of the streak tube are reduced as much as possible. Secondly, by introducing a hyperfine grid behind the cathode, reasonably designing the voltages applied to the six-electrode electrostatic focusing system, and moving the electron beam crossing point to the entrance of the deflection plates, the temporal dispersion and the temporal distortion of the streak tube are reduced, and the spatiotemporal resolution of the streak tube is improved. Besides, the streak tube is technically analyzed by tracking the temporal and spatial distribution of electrons under an operating voltage of 7000 V with the aid of computer simulation technology (CST) software. The results show that the deflection sensitivity is 125 mm/kV, the physical temporal resolution is better than 1.83 ps @MTF = 10%, and the static spatial resolution on the photocathode is better than 38 lp/mm @MTF = 10% over the effective photocathode area with a size of 10 mm × 4 mm. By applying a synchronous scanning voltage with a repetition frequency of 250 MHz to the deflection electrode, the results show that the dynamic spatial resolution of the streak tube is better than 16 lp/mm, the limit of the dynamic temporal resolution is 1.39 ps, and two rectangular electron pulses with a size of 10 mm × 20 μm and an interval of 2.3 ps emitted from the photocathode can be well resolved by the streak tube. In addition, the experimental measurements are conducted with a streak tube developed in our laboratory. The results demonstrate that the photocathode of the streak tube can work in the entire visible light region, and the response in the short wavelength region is significantly better than that in the long wavelength region. The static spatial resolution of this streak tube is 40 lp/mm in the center of the photocathode. The temporal resolution of this streak tube is 5.55 ps measured under a synchronous scanning voltage with a repetition frequency of 75 MHz.