The Transit Time Effect of a Modulated Electron Beam

Energy change of an electron beam is studied numerically when it transits a rf field gap of width L. For a premodulated beam, the transit time L/0> for maximum energy extraction is shortened to 0.475 T (T=2/, 0> is the average velocity of the electrons) when the modulation frequency _m is matched to the rf field frequency . Enhancement of the extraction efficiency _o is dependent on the modulation coefficient h₁ and h₂. For a uniform beam with V=500 kV, _o is less than 2%. _o reaches 11% for a prebunched beam with h₁=0.7 and h₂=0.1 and will surpass 20% for an ideally modulated beam.