A battery-operated, stabilized, high-energy pulsed electron gun for the production of rare gas excimers

We report on the design of a new type of electron gun to be used for experiments of infrared emission spectroscopy of rare gas excimers. It is based on a filament heated by means of a pack of rechargeable batteries floated atop the high-voltage power supply. The filament current is controlled by a feedback circuit including a superluminescent diode decoupled from the high voltage by means of an optical fiber. Our experiment requires that the charge injection is pulsed and constant and stable in time. This electron gun can deliver several tens of nC per pulse of electrons of energy up to $100\,$keV into the sample cell. This new design eliminates ripples in the emission current and ensures up to 12 hrs of stable performance.