A forevacuum pulse arc-discharge-based plasma electron source

An arc-discharge-based electron source is described, which is designed for forming a pulsed wideaperture electron beam in the forevacuum pressure range (4–15 Pa). At an accelerating voltage of 12 kV, a current of 80 A was extracted from the emitting surface with an area of 80 cm² in the submillisecond range of pulse durations. The current density distribution over the beam cross section is close to a Gaussian function, and the surface-averaged beam energy density in a pulse reached 10 J/cm².     

The amplitude and current pulse duration of a supershort avalanche electron beam in air at atmospheric pressure

The results of experimental studies of the parameters (amplitude and duration) of a supershort avalanche electron beam (SAEB) generated in air at atmospheric pressure are presented. It is shown that the pulse duration of the beam current behind the foil from the entire area of the anode foil is larger than from small areas and depends on the cathode design. The number of electrons that are detected behind the 10-μm-thick Al foil is ∼6 × 10¹⁰ electrons, which corresponds to a SAEB amplitude of ∼100 A at a FWHM of the current pulse of ∼100 ps. An X-ray exposure dose per pulse of ∼1.8 mR was obtained using a 20-μm-thick copper foil. It was confirmed that the FWHM of a SAEB pulse is within ∼50 ps from small foil areas (with diameters of ∼7 mm or smaller).     

An efficient cathode for generating an supershort avalanche electron beam in air at atmospheric pressure

The cathodes of accelerators intended for generating an ultrashort electron beam in air at atmospheric pressure were studied. A cathode allowing an increase in the amplitude of the beam current behind the foil by several times has been developed. The beam current amplitude obtained at a half-height pulse duration of ∼100 ps is ∼80 A.     

A source of broad electron beams with a self-heated hollow cathode for plasma nitriding of stainless steel

The principle of operation and characteristics of a broad electron beam source based on the discharge with a self-heated hollow cathode and widened anode part are described. The source is intended for the ion nitriding of metals in the electron beam plasma. The influence of the current density (1–7 mA/cm²) and ion energy (0.1–0.3 keV) on the nitriding rate of the 12X18H10T austenitic stainless steel is studied. It is shown that the maximal nitriding rate is reached by the combining of the minimal bias voltage across the samples (100 V) and maximal ion current density, which ensures the dynamic oxide layer sputtering on the sample surface. The electron source, in which electrons are extracted through a stabilizing grid in the direction normal to the axis of the hollow cathode, ensures the radially divergent electron beam formation with a 700-cm² initial cross section, a current of up to 30 A, and initial electron energy of 0.1–0.5 keV. The source stably operates at nitrogen-argon mixture pressures of up to 3 Pa.     

A long pulse width and high extraction rate arc plasma electron beam source

Based on the principle of vacuum arc discharge under magnetic field, a novel plasma cathode electron- beam source was designed. This device can be used to regulate electron-beam current so as to improve the extrication efficiency of electron beam through regulating the exciting current and thus controlling the density of the plasma electron beam source. Experiment results showed that the arc current change with the magnetic field, to be specific, the stronger the magnetic field was, the smaller the arc current will be, then the density of plasma that penetrated the anode hole to serve as electron beam will be higher. From this experiment, it can be seen that under the condition of 10^?3 Pa air pressure, 100 V arc voltage, 30 A exciting current, we can obtain the electron beam of 40 ms pulse width, and 828 mA current in the extraction rate of 6.1%.     

A facility for metal surface treatment with an electron beam

A design for a facility for the surface treatment of metal samples is described, and the results from investigating the source of a high-current low-energy electron beam are presented. The electron beam, which has a current as high as 300 A, a pulse duration of 30 µs, and a pulse repetition rate of up to 10 Hz, is formed in a plasma-cathode gas-filled diode at an accelerating voltage of 20 kV. The space-charge compensated electron beam is transported a distance of 20 cm in a longitudinal magnetic field to the region of its interaction with a solid body. At a current density as high as 100 A/cm², the power density produced by the beam is sufficient for the metal surface to be melted in the duration of one or several pulses. Samples can be replaced in the facility without breaking the vacuum.Translated from Pribory i Tekhnika Eksperimenta, No. 1, 2005, pp. 135–140.Original Russian Text Copyright © 2004 by Koval, Shchanin, Devyatkov, Tolkachev, Vintizenko.     

YPT-0.5 repetitive-pulse nanosecond electron accelerator

An YPT-0.5 repetive-pulse nanosecond electron accelerator designed according to the thyratron-pulse transformer-semiconductor opening switch scheme is described. Its accelerating voltage reaches 0.5 MV, the FWHM pulse duration is 50 ns, and the pulse repetition rate is 200 Hz. A metal-dielectric cathode allows for obtaining an electron beam with a diameter of 30–100 mm at a maximum pulse current density of 40 A/cm². Operating in the bremsstrahlung generator mode, the accelerator provides an absorbed dose rate of 30.4 Gy/min at a distance of 5 cm from the target.     

LIU-2 linear induction accelerator

The LIU-2 induction accelerator is described. It is used as an injector for the developed large linear induction accelerator with a maximum electron beam energy of 20 MeV, which is intended for smallangle pulse X-ray tomography. Owing to the good quality and high current of the electron beam (2 kA), the injector is capable of operating as an independent X-ray source with an electron energy of 2 MeV, the beam diameter at the target of <2 mm, and a pulse duration of 200 ns. The total yield of the bremsstrahlung energy is 52.4 J and the fraction of quanta with energies of >1 MeV is ～20% of the total energy yield. The spread of the radiation intensity in the solid angle of 10° is ±5%, and the absorbed dose at a distance of 1 m from the target is 32 × 10^?3 Gy, which allows this source to be used with attenuation of 10³–10⁴ for exposure of available X-ray films. This type of system is characterized by a high transmission capability with a 0.5-mm maximum spatial resolution of X-ray images and can be used in the X-ray imaging technique when carrying out gas-dynamic testing of products with an optical thickness as great as 90 mm of lead equivalent.     

A high-current nanosecond electron accelerator with a semiconductor opening switch

A compact nanosecond electron accelerator with an output energy of up to 4000 keV, a pulsed power of 100–180 MW, a beam current of 0.25–1.1 kA, and a pulse energy of 5–7 J is described. The accelerator operates with a pulse repetition rate of 200 Hz and ensures an average beam power of up to 1 kW. A nanosecond generator with a solid-state switching system, which is based on magnetic stages of pulse compression and a semiconductor opening switch, is used as a supplying device. The design and electric circuit of the accelerator are described, and test results are presented.     

An extra-bright X-ray source

A bremsstrahlung X-ray source based on deceleration of electrons in the target is described. Its overall dimensions and cost are typical of bremsstrahlung sources, and the main parameters of its X-ray beam are similar to those of synchrotron sources. In a range of Δλ/λ = 10⁻³, the spectral radiant power of CuKα is at least 100 mW/mrad with a divergence angle of 1 mrad. The direction of the X-ray beam at the outlet is arbitrary, depending on the source head holder design. The source can be embedded into existing nanolithography systems and used in medical and industrial introscopes and tomographs, in scientific instruments, etc.     

A high-current picosecond electron accelerator with a low-impedance vacuum diode

A high-current picosecond (∼150 ps) electron accelerator with a beam energy of 50–100 keV is described. The use of a low-impedance vacuum diode at an amplitude of the arriving pulse of 300–400 kV made it possible to significantly increase the beam current (up to ∼15 kA) and the corresponding X-radiation intensity. One of the accelerator's applications in the X-ray therapy of malignant tumors. Some computational relations and results of measurements of the arriving and reflected voltage pulses near the diode are presented. The electron-accelerating voltage, beam current, vacuum-diode impedance, and other parameters are determined after the recovery procedure.     

Discrimination of particles by the scintillation pulse shape (in the electron energy range of 0.5–4.0 MeV) using the zero-crossing method

The ratios of the fast to slow components of scintillation pulses produced by neutrons and γ rays have been calculated on the basis of experimental data for several energies in the range of 0.5-4.0 MeV of the electron equivalent. The procedure for discriminating between neutrons and γ rays by measuring the zero-crossing time of a bipolar pulse formed by RC circuits has been simulated for organic scintillators using the Monte Carlo method in the range of 0.012-4.000 MeV of the electron equivalent. It is shown that pulse shape discrimination of particles based on the zero-crossing technique allows rejection of γ-ray background down to a level of 10-4 at particle energies of >100 keV of the electron equivalent (for energies of <50 keV, the γ-ray background is suppressed to a level of 10^-1- 10^-2 and this technique becomes ineffective in principle).     

A РИТМ-СП facility for the surface alloying

A combined РИТМ-СП facility intended for forming thin alloy layers on the sample surface during the single vacuum cycle (in situ) is described. The facility consists of a low-energy (10–30 keV) high-current (up to 25 kA) pulsed (2–4 μs) electron beam source and a magnetron sputtering device mounted together with the electron gun of the source on the common vacuum working chamber. The chamber is equipped with the manipulator intended to move the working table with samples without vacuum failures. The facility contains a computer-aided system for controlling the pumping, filling of the chamber with the working gas, power supply units, synchronization of pulse processes during the generation of the electron beam, deposition of films, displacements of the sample, etc. To illustrate the operation of the facility, results of experiments on surface alloying for the Ni-Cu system are given.     

A source of gas, vapor, metal, and carbon ions based on a low-pressure hollow-cathode discharge

A compact source of gas, vapor, metal, and carbon ions based on a cold-hollow-cathode reflective discharge has been developed, in which a 6-mm-diameter flat target (Cu, Mo, W, C) is installed on the bottom of the cold cathode insulated from it. The density of the ion flow from cathode plasma reaches 100 mA/cm² at an accelerating voltage of up to 10 kV and a discharge current of 0.2-0.5 A. Vapors produced during ion sputtering of the target are ionized in the cathode and anode cavities. A beam containing ions of the plasma-producing gas and vapor is extracted throug h the channel in the reflector cathode. A fraction of the vapor of the sputtered target, the flow of which is sufficient for growing layers at a rate of ∼0.03 nm/s at a distance of 10 cm from the emission channel under the action of an ion beam, is extracted together with ions. The fraction of metal ions in the extracted beam is 0.05-0.10. The total current of the ion beam is 20-30 mA.     

A Plasma-Cathode Electron Source for Focused-Beam Generation in the Fore-Pump Pressure Range

A plasma electron source is described that forms a focused beam in the range of fore-pump pressures. Plasma is generated in a hollow-cathode discharge. Electrons are extracted through a single emission hole in the anode. The source provides an electron-beam current of up to 0.1 A and an energy of up to 20 keV. The beam diameter at the half-height of the current-density distribution is ≤1.4 mm, and the beam-power density is as high as 1.5 kW/mm².     

An experimental setup for exciting semiconductors and dielectrics with picosecond electron-beam and electric-field pulses

An experimental facility for forming high-voltage pulses with amplitudes of 30–250 kV and durations of 100–500 ps and electron beams with a current density of up to 1000 A/cm² is described. The facility was built using the principle of energy compression of a pulse from a nanosecond high-voltage generator accompanied by the subsequent pulse sharpening and cutting. The setup is equipped with two test coaxial chambers for exciting radiation in semiconductor crystals by an electron beam or an electric field in air at atmospheric pressure and T = 300 K. Generation of laser radiation in the visible range under field and electron pumping was attained in ZnSSe, ZnSe, ZnCdS, and CdS (462, 480, 515, and 525 nm, respectively). Under the exposure to an electric field (up to 10⁶ V cm^?1), the lasing region was as large as 300–500μm. The radiation divergence was within 5°. The maximum integral radiation power (6 kW at λ = 480 nm) was obtained under field pumping of a zinc selenide sample with a single dielectric mirror.     

A source of broad homogeneous beams of low-energy (∼0.5 keV) gas ions

A source of gas ions (argon, oxygen, nitrogen, etc.), the operating principle of which is based on the use of a glow discharge in an electrode system of a wide-aperture hollow cathode and anode in a magnetic field, is described. The exit aperture diameter of the hollow cathode, increased up to a size close to the ion beam diameter (10 cm), ensures the uniform ion emission of the plasma generated in the discharge region near the anode. A decreased angular divergence or increased ultimate ion-beam current density is achieved by a change in the potential drop in the space charge sheath between the plasma and the ion optics. The source generates broad (50 cm²) slightly diverging (ω/2∼3°–5°) ion beams with energies of 300–1000 eV at a beam current density of ∼0.5 mA/cm².     

A Low-Energy Gas-Discharge Open-End Ion Source without the External Magnetic Field

The described ion source, as oppose to the well-known Hall-type open-end ion source does not require an external magnetic field. The optimal operating parameters of the ion source (discharge voltage is 140 V, discharge current is 2.5 A, and operating pressure is <3.5 × 10^–4Torr) allow one to obtain an argon ion beam with a current of up to 200 mA over an area with a diameter of up to 120 mm and beam current nonuniformity of <25%. This ion source has a long service life under high-temperature operating conditions.     

A plasma cathode for a radio-frequency gun

A plasma ferroelectric cathode is used to form electron beams with a high pulse charge and a high charge in an electron bunch in an rf electron gun of a 10-cm wavelength range. The design of the cathode is described, and the results of calculations of the densities of the cathode-emitted and the gun-outputted currents are presented. The operation of the cathode in the rf gun was studied experimentally: the electron energy, the pulse current, and the transverse emittance of the beam were measured. The electron beam obtained at the output of the single-resonator gun had a pulse current of up to 10 A, a pulse duration of 60 ns, and an electron energy of ?500 keV. The normalized beam emittance was 40 mm mrad.     

AУPT-1M accelerator for radiation technologies

AУPT-1M modernized electron accelerator with an accelerating voltage up to 1 MV, a 1-kW electron beam power, and a 100-ns pulse duration is described. As compared to the prototype (УPT-1 accelerator), the layout of assemblies is changed in it, allowing one to place it in rooms with heights up to 2.5 m. It uses Murata capacitors and a ТQPи1–10k/75 thyratron with a cold cathode for switching. The computer-aided parameter-monitoring system is created. A metal-ceramic cathode consisting of several elements with ～15% nonuniform current density distribution of the electron beam on the exit foil was used to obtain an electron beam with a width of up to 400 mm. The accelerator can be used in radiation technologies in layers with a thickness of up to 0.3 g/cm².