Production and characterization of ion beams from magnetically insulated diodes

Thesis/Dissertation · Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1982

OSTI ID:6301707

Neri, J M

The operation of magnetically insulated diodes and the characteristics of the resulting ion beams have been investigated using two pulsed power generators, LYNX at the 10/sup 9/W power level, and Neptune at the 10/sup 11/W power level. LYNX is a small magnetically insulated diode driven directly by a Marx bank. By changing the material used as the surface flashover ion source, the majority ion species generated by the diode could be chosen. Ion beams produced so far by this device are: protons, lithium, boron, carbon, sodium, strontium, and barium. Typical beam parameters for the ion beams are peak energies of 300 keV, current densities of 40 to 60 A/cm/sup 2/, and pulse durations of 300 to 400 nsec. The ion beam uniformity, divergence, and reproducibility were shown to be a function of the surface flashover source geometry. Finally, the LYNX ion beam was also used to anneal silicon crystals and other materials science experiments. The diode used on the Neptune generator was designed to study virtual cathode formation in a high power magnetically insulated diode. The physical cathode was replaced by electrons that ExB drift on the applied magnetic field lines. It was found that the best electrode configuration is one in which the electrons are required to only undergo the Hall drift to form the cathode. The divergence of the ion beam was examined with time-dependent and time-integrated shadowbox diagnostics. It was found that the intrinsic divergence of the ion beam does not have a strong directional dependence.

• Research Organization: Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6301707
• Resource Relation: Other Information: Thesis (Ph. D.)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ION BEAMS
BEAM PRODUCTION
BEAM CURRENTS
CATHODES
ELECTRONS
HALL EFFECT
NEPTUNE REACTOR
PLASMA HEATING
THERMIONIC DIODES
BEAMS
CURRENTS
DIODE TUBES
ELECTRODES
ELECTRON TUBES
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
EXPERIMENTAL REACTORS
FERMIONS
HEATING
LEPTONS
REACTORS
RESEARCH AND TEST REACTORS
THERMIONIC TUBES
ZERO POWER REACTORS
640301* - Atomic
Molecular & Chemical Physics- Beams & their Reactions