The following document describes the usage and results of sending pulsed beams of electrically charged particles with electrically wide range of pulse lengths and pulse repetition rates.

The most important component required for the Astron experimental facility is a high energy, high current, pulsed electron accelerator. A thin cylindrical layer of high energy electrons trapped within an axially symmetric magnetic field is the key feature of the Astron thermonuclear device. The trapping magnetic field is constant in time. Therefore, it is not possible to inject electrons and trap the electrons in this field unless during the injection phase a part of the electron energy is absorbed by some friction process. This is accomplished by means of eddy currents generated on suitable passive circuits by the current of the injected electron bunch. This method has ben described elsewhere. However, in order to achieve an effective loss mechanism the current of the injected electron beam must be over one hundred amps. Such high current beams are difficult to handle except if the electron energy is high enough so that the electrostatic repulsive force is compensated to great extent by attractive magnetive forces. Hence the electron energy required is 5 Mev or higher. Other requirements on the electron layer yield the same result.