v1

T
v a
electron gun
a
v2

Figure 4:

constant during the motion, it will be the velocity of the uniform rectilinear
motion. Magnitudes of the components of the velocity can be expressed as

v1 = v sin α v2 = v cos α .

Denoting by N the number of screws of the helix we can write for the time
of motion of the electron
d d 2πrN 2πrN
t= = = = .
v2 v cos α v1 v sin α
Hence we can calculate the radius of the circular trajectory
d sin α
r= .
2πN cos α
However, the Lorentz force must be equated to the centripetal force

me v 2 sin2 α me v 2 sin2 α
Bev sin α = = d sin α
. (6)
r 2πN cos α