Abstract
Two-dimensional electromagnetic particle-in-cell simulations were performed to study the effect of the displacement current and the self-magnetic field on the space charge limited current density or the Child-Langmuir law of a short-pulse electron flow with a propagation distance of zeta and an emitting width of W from the classical regime to the relativistic regime. Numerical scaling of the two-dimensional electromagnetic Child-Langmuir law was constructed and it scales with (zeta/W) and (zeta/W)(2) at the classical and relativistic regimes, respectively. Our findings reveal that the displacement current can considerably enhance the space charge limited current density as compared to the well-known two-dimensional electrostatic Child-Langmuir law even at the classical regime. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3553451]