A NEW TYPE OF ACCELERATING TUBE FOR ELECTROSTATIC GENERATORS

Technical Report · Mon Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1962

OSTI ID:4711116

Allen, W D

S>Many electrostatic generators are limited in their performance by electron currents which, by the release of x rays and ionization in the high pressure envelopes, cause heavy loading on the terminal. In the tube described below, this loading is minimized by setting the electrodes at a slight angle to the normal, so that charged particles originating at the electrodes are relatively strongly deflected, while for fast particles incident at the center of the electrode, the deflection is small and the net deflection of a series of electrodes is zero. Tubes made in this way were tested in the Oxford Project test machine at Harwell and the 6 mv electrostatic generator at Manchester. Results to date show that the high energy performance is considerably improved over standard tubes: the Harwell machine carried an electron beam at 4 mv negative over a 6-ft length, while the Manchester tube operated at 6 mv with little conditioning and with x-ray yields down by a factor of at least ten over conventional tubes. Troubles with the tube arose from the mechanism whereby the secondary particles are suppressed. Both machines showed a small but appreciable wobble'' of the beam, of between ction in DDT-C/ 1/16 in. to ction in DDT-C/ 1/8 in. This was attributed to the inductive effect of the belt on sets of plates as irregular charge distribution was carried through the stack. In the Manchester machine, in which the column current was of the same order and sometimes considerably less than the beam current, pronounced sideways shifts (up to 1/2 in.) of the beam were also observed. An account of the principles of the tube design, of its method of construction, and a report to date of tests with the tube are described. (auth)

• Research Organization: Gt. Brit. National Inst. for Research in Nuclear Science. Rutherford High Energy Lab., Chilton, Berks, England
• NSA Number: NSA-17-018540
• OSTI ID: 4711116
• Report Number(s): NIRL/R/21
• Country of Publication: Country unknown/Code not available
• Language: English

Related Subjects

ACCELERATION
CHARGED PARTICLES
CURRENTS
DISTRIBUTION
EFFICIENCY
ELECTRIC CHARGES
ELECTRODES
ELECTRON BEAMS
ELECTRON TUBES
ELECTROSTATICS
ENERGY LEVELS
GENERATORS
INDUCTION
INSTRUMENTS AND INSTRUMENTATION
IONIZATION
REFLECTION
X RADIATION