Patent Number: 
Section: claims

1. An ElectroMagnetic Mechanical Pulser (“EMMP”) comprising:an input configured to accept a continuous input electron beam;a Traveling Wave Metallic Comb Stripline kicker (“TWMCS” kicker) located downstream of the input and having an internal passage through which the electron beam passes, the TWMCS kicker being configured to impose an oscillatory transverse deflection on the electron beam according to at least one of a transverse time-varying electric field and a transverse time-varying magnetic field generated within the TWMCS kicker by a first RF traveling wave propagated through the TWMCS kicker;a Chopping Collimating Aperture (“CCA”) located downstream of the TWMCS kicker and configured to block the electron beam when its deflection exceeds a threshold maximum or minimum, thereby chopping the electron beam into a chopped stream of electron pulses having an electron pulse repetition rate and duty cycle;an output configured to allow electron pulses to emerge from the EMMP as an output stream of electron pulses having a pulse repetition rate and a pulse duty cycle; anda vacuum chamber surrounding all elements of the EMMP and configured to provide a vacuum that is sufficient to allow the electron beam to pass through the EMMP without significant attenuation thereof by residual gasses, wherein:the TWMCS kicker includes at least one pair of opposing combs;each of said opposing combs of said pair of combs comprises a strip from which a plurality of substantially identical, equally spaced-apart blocks extend as teeth;the combs of the pair of combs are spaced apart with teeth facing inward such that the internal passage through which the electron beam passes is between the teeth of the pair of combs;the pair of combs includes an RF energy input proximal to a first end thereof and an RF energy output proximal to an opposite, second end thereof;the teeth of the pair of combs are configured to control a phase velocity of a traveling RF wave propagating from the first end to the second end so that it is matched to an electron velocity of the electron beam; andall exposed surfaces of the pair of combs are electrically conductive. 2. The EMMP of claim 1, further comprising a dispersion suppressing section downstream of the CCA, the dispersion suppressing section being configured to suppress a residual dispersion of the stream of electron pulses arising from the deflection imposed by the TWMCS kicker. 3. The EMMP of claim 2, wherein the dispersion suppressing section includes a demodulating mirror TWMCS having an internal passage through which the electron beam passes downstream of the CCA the mirror TWMCS having a physical configuration that causes a phase velocity of a second RF traveling wave propagated through the mirror TWMCS to be matched to a velocity of the electron beam, the mirror TWMCS being configured to demodulate the oscillatory transverse deflection imposed on the electron beam by the TWMCS kicker. 4. The EMMP of claim 2, wherein the dispersion suppressing section includes at least one magnetic quadrupole. 5. The EMMP of claim 1, wherein the pulse repetition rate of the electron pulses in the output stream is tunable from 0.1 GHz to 20 GHz. 6. The EMMP of claim 1, wherein a pulse length of the electron pulses in the output stream is tunable from 100 fs to 10 ps. 7. The EMMP of claim 1, wherein the duty cycle of the electron pulses in the output stream is tunable from 1% to 10%. 8. The EMMP of claim 1, wherein the pulse repetition rate and the duty cycle of the electron pulses in the output stream are independently tunable. 9. The EMMP of claim 1, wherein the EMMP is configured to accept input electron beams having a kinetic energy between 100 and 500 keV. 10. The EMMP of claim 1, wherein the TWMCS kicker includes two pair of opposing combs through which the electron beam simultaneously passes, the two pair of opposing combs being arranged such that a first pair thereof deflects the electron beam in a first deflection plane and a second pair thereof deflects the electrons in a second deflection plane that is orthogonal to the first deflection plane, wherein a line of intersection between the first and second deflection planes lies along the internal passage through which the electron beam passes. 11. The EMMP of claim 1, wherein the EMMP further comprises a down-selecting TWMCS positioned downstream of the CCA and configured to reduce the pulse repetition rate of the output stream by deflecting some pulses out from the chopped stream of electron pulses that emerges from the CCA. 12. The EMMP of claim 11, wherein the EMMP further includes a down-selecting aperture located downstream of the down-selecting TWMCS. 13. The EMMP of claim 1, wherein at least one of the combs of the pair of combs can be laterally shifted toward and away from the other of the combs of the pair of combs. 14. The EMMP of claim 1, wherein the RF energy output is connected to a terminating impedance. 15. The EMMP of claim 14, wherein the terminating impedance is a 50 Ohm impedance. 16. The EMMP of claim 1, wherein an orientation of at least one of the combs of the pair of combs can be varied in orientation so as to adjust an angle between the pair of combs. 17. The EMMP of claim 1, wherein an aperture size of the CCA is mechanically adjustable. 18. The EMMP of claim 1, wherein the CCA includes an aperture that is not circular. 19. The EMMP of claim 18, wherein the CCA includes an elongated aperture having a height thereof that is at least twice as large as a width thereof. 20. The EMMP of claim 1, wherein the EMMP includes an aperture having electrically isolated elements that enable the aperture to function as at least one of a beam position monitor and a beam current monitor. 21. The EMMP of claim 1, further comprising at least one magnetic or electrostatic beam deflecting element that is configured to adjust a propagating direction of the electron beam. 22. A method of generating electron pulses, the method comprising:providing an EMMP according to claim 1;causing a continuous electron beam to pass through the TWMCS kicker while applying RF energy to the RF energy input of the TWMCS kicker, said RF energy causing a traveling RF wave to propagate through the TWMCS kicker, said traveling RF wave having a phase velocity that is substantially equal to an electron velocity of the electron beam, thereby imposing a spatial oscillation on the continuous electron beam;causing the spatially oscillating electron beam to impact 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 a desired electron pulse repetition rate;adjusting an amplitude of the applied RF energy so as to adjust widths of the electron pulses to be equal to a desired electron pulse width; andadjusting a frequency of the applied RF energy so that it is equal to one half of a desired electron pulse repetition rate. 23. The method of claim 22, wherein the desired electron pulse repetition rate is between 100 MHz and 50 GHz, and the desired electron pulse width is in a range 100 fs to 10 ps. 24. The method of claim 22, wherein the specified electron pulse energy is between 100 keV and 500 keV. 25. The method of claim 22, wherein the TWMCS kicker includes two orthogonal pairs of combs, and wherein the method further comprises applying RF energy to a first of the pairs of combs at a first frequency and applying RF energy to a second of the pairs of combs at a second frequency. 26. The method of claim 22, wherein:the TWMCS kicker includes two orthogonal pairs of combs;the CCA includes an aperture opening having a non-circular shape: andthe method further comprises applying RF energy to a first of the pairs of combs at a first RF amplitude and applying RF energy to a second of the pairs of combs at a second RF amplitude, and varying the electron pulse width by varying a difference between the first and second RF amplitudes. 27. The method of claim 22, wherein the EMMP further comprises a down-selecting TWMCS positioned downstream of the CCA, and the method further comprises applying RF energy at a first RF frequency F1 to the TWMCS kicker and applying RF energy to the down-selecting TWMCS at a second RF frequency F2, wherein either F1/F2 or F2/F1 is an integer. 28. The method of claim 27, wherein the EMMP further comprises a down-selecting aperture downstream of the down-selecting TWMCS. 29. The method of claim 28, wherein the down selecting aperture includes an opening having a height thereof that is at least twice as large as a width thereof.