title: Note: measurement of extreme-short current pulse duration of runaway electron beam in atmospheric pressure air.
abstract: This note reports the time-amplitude characteristic of the supershort avalanche electron beam with up to 20 ps time resolution. For the first time it is shown that the electron beam downstream of small-diameter diaphragms in atmospheric pressure air has a complex structure which depends on the interelectrode gap width and cathode design. With a spherical cathode and collimator the minimum duration at half maximum of the supershort avalanche electron beam current pulse was shown to be ~25 ps. The minimum duration at half maximum of one peak in the pulses with two peaks can reach ~25 ps too.
authors.affiliation: Institute of High Current Electronics SB RAS, 2∕3 Akademichesky Ave., 634055 Tomsk, Russia.
authors.forename: V F
authors.initials: VF
authors.lastname: Tarasenko
authors.forename: D V
authors.initials: DV
authors.lastname: Rybka
authors.forename: A G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Burachenko
authors.forename: M I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Lomaev
authors.forename: E V
authors.initials: EV
authors.lastname: Balzovsky