Emission from Crystals Irradiated with a Beam of Runaway Electrons

Abstract

An investigation of the spectral and amplitude-temporal characteristics of emission from different crystals, promising in terms of their application as detectors of runaway electrons, is performed. This emission is excited by subnanosecond electron beams generated in a gas diode. It is found out that at the electron energies of tens–hundreds of kiloelectronvolts, the main contribution into the emission from CsI, ZnS, type IIa artificial and natural diamonds, sapphire, CaF₂, ZrO₂, Ga₂O₃, CaCO₃, CdS, and ZnSe crystals comes from the cathodoluminescence; the radiation pulse duration depends on the crystal used and sufficiently exceeds the Cherenkov radiation pulse duration. It is demonstrated that the latter radiation exhibits low intensity and can be detected in the short-wave region of the spectrum in the cases where a monochromator and a high-sensitivity photomultiplier tube (PMT) are used.