Ion diode performance on a positive polarity inductive voltage adder with layered magnetically insulated transmission line flow
- Plasma Physics Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375 (United States)
- Independent contractor for NRL through L-3 Communications, Chantilly, Virginia 20151 (United States)
A pinch-reflex ion diode is fielded on the pulsed-power machine Mercury (R. J. Allen, et al., 15th IEEE Intl. Pulsed Power Conf., Monterey, CA, 2005, p. 339), which has an inductive voltage adder (IVA) architecture and a magnetically insulated transmission line (MITL). Mercury is operated in positive polarity resulting in layered MITL flow as emitted electrons are born at a different potential in each of the adder cavities. The usual method for estimating the voltage by measuring the bound current in the cathode and anode of the MITL is not accurate with layered flow, and the interaction of the MITL flow with a pinched-beam ion diode load has not been studied previously. Other methods for determining the diode voltage are applied, ion diode performance is experimentally characterized and evaluated, and circuit and particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations are performed. Results indicate that the ion diode couples efficiently to the machine operating at a diode voltage of about 3.5 MV and a total current of about 325 kA, with an ion current of about 70 kA of which about 60 kA is proton current. It is also found that the layered flow impedance of the MITL is about half the vacuum impedance.
- OSTI ID:
- 21537825
- Journal Information:
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 18, Issue 5; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.3587082; (c) 2011 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 1070-664X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Use of a radial self-field diode geometry for intense pulsed ion beam generation at 6 MeV on Hermes III
Characterization of self-magnetic pinch radiographic diode performance on RITS-6 at Sandia National Laboratories. II. Coupling between the inductive voltage adder and the SMP load