Ultra broad band continuously tunable electron beam pulser

A method of generating electron pulses having a desired pulse energy, pulse repetition rate, and pulse width, the method comprising:

• providing a modulating Traveling Wave Transmission Stripline (“TWTS”) having an internal passage through which an electron beam can pass, the modulating TWTS being configured to propagate a first RF energy therethrough as a traveling wave, the modulating TWTS including an internal dielectric material;
• providing a Chopping Collimating Aperture (“CCA”) downstream of the modulating TWTS;
• providing a modulation suppressing section downstream of the CCA, the modulating suppressing section including a demodulating TWTS having an internal passage through which the electron beam can pass, the demodulating TWTS being configured to propagate a second RF energy therethrough as a traveling wave, the demodulating TWTS including an internal dielectric material;
• adjusting at least one of a material property and a physical configuration of the internal dielectric material of each of the modulating and demodulating TWTS so as to cause a phase velocity for RF waves traveling through the modulating and demodulating TWTS to be matched to the desired electron pulse energy;
• causing a continuous electron beam to pass through the modulating TWTS while applying the first RF energy to the modulating TWTS, thereby imposing a spatial oscillation on the continuous electron beam;
• causing the spatially varied electron beam to pass through the CCA, so that the CCA blocks the electron beam when its deflection exceeds a threshold maximum or minimum, thereby chopping the electron beam into a stream of electron pulses having the desired electron pulse repetition rate;
• causing the electron pulses to pass through the dispersion suppressing section;
• adjusting an amplitude of the first RF energy, the threshold maximum of the CCA, and/or the threshold minimum of the CCA, so as to adjust widths of the electron pulses to be equal to the desired pulse width;
• applying the second RF energy to the demodulating TWTS, thereby suppressing a residual dispersion of the stream of electron pulses arising from the deflection imposed by the modulating TWTS;
• and
• adjusting a frequency of the first and second RF energies so that it is equal to one half of the desired pulse repetition rate.