We present a new compact electron gun based on the secondary emission through ionic bombardment principle. The driving parameters to develop such a gun are to obtain a quite small electron gun for an in-flight instrument performing Electron Beam Fluorescence measurements (EBF) on board of a reentry vehicle in the upper atmosphere. These measurements are useful to characterize the gas flow around the vehicle in terms of gas chemical composition, temperatures and velocity of the flow which usually presents thermo-chemical non-equilibrium. Such an instrument can also be employed to characterize the upper atmosphere if placed on another carrier like a balloon. In ground facilities, it appears as a more practical tool to characterize flows in wind tunnel studies or as an alternative to complex electron guns in industrial processes requiring an electron beam. We describe in this paper the gun which has been developed as well as its different features which have been characterized in the laboratory.
Keywords: 07.20.Dt; 07.57.-c; 33.50.Dq; 34.80.Dp; 34.80.Nz; 47.40.Ki; 52.25.Jm; 52.50.Dg; 61.80.Fe; 79.20.Hx; density measurements; electron beam fluorescence; electron gun; low density gas flow; optical diagnostics; secondary electrons; temperature measurements.