Current waveform reconstruction from an explosively emissive cathode at a subnanosecond voltage front.

We describe the methods of registration and reconstruction of an envelope of explosive electron emission current from the edge of a cylindrical cathode, which provides a picosecond time reference of the emitted electron beam with a subnanosecond voltage front applied to the accelerating gap. Variation of the front steepness allows one to determine the beam onset time in the experiments, where a collector-type current probe can be used. The advanced method of dynamic time domain reflectometry provides exact data on electron beam current rise and track changes in the cathode emission from pulse to pulse with a precision of less than 10 ps.