The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 23, 1978
Filed:
Feb. 07, 1977
William Hant, Los Angeles, CA (US);
Northrop Corporation, Los Angeles, CA (US);
Abstract
Thermionic filaments are arranged in an array which covers a predetermined area. A spreader electrode which may be in the form of a flat plate is placed on one side of the filaments with an anode being placed on the other side of the filaments, and an accelerator grid, focusing plate and collimation plate being placed in that order between the filaments and the anode. The anode is in the form of a foil through which the electrons pass into an area where they are utilized, such as for example a laser cavity where they are utilized to ionize the laser gas. The foil anode is supported on an apertured structure which facilitates the formation of a vacuum tight seal of the vacuum envelope containing the gun and functions as a heat sink to dissipate some of the heat energy developed in the foil. The anode support structure, focusing plate and collimating plate all have apertures formed therethrough which form a plurality of cylindrical channels, these channels covering substantially the entire surface area of the foil anode. The apertures of the support structure, focusing plate and collimation plate are aligned with each other to provide channeled pathways for the electrons between the filaments and the anode. Potentials are applied to the focusing and collimation plates to focus the electrons into circular beams which efficiently pass through the channels between the filaments and the anode with a minimum dissipation of energy in the structures forming the channels.