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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Overview of high intensity x-ray and gamma-ray sources

Conference ·
OSTI ID:6642885
The requirements for intense x-ray and gamma-ray sources to simulate the radiation effects from nuclear weapons has led to the development of several types of terawatt-pulsed power systems. One example of a major gamma-ray source is Aurora, a 10-MV, 1.6-MA, 120-ns four-module, electron-beam generator. Recent requirements to improve the dose rate has led to the Aurora upgrade program and to the development of the 20-MV, 800-kA, 40-ns Hermes-III electron-beam accelerator. The Aurora program includes improvements to the pulsed power system and research on techniques to improve the pulse shape of the electron beam. Hermes III will feature twenty 1-MV, 800-kA induction accelerator cavities supplying energy to a magnetically insulated transmission line adder. Hermes III will become operational in 1988. Intense x-ray sources consist of pulsed power systems that operate with 1-MV to 2-MV output voltages and up to 25-TW output powers. These high powers are achieved with either low impedance electron-beam generators or multimodular pulsed power systems. The low-impedance generators have high voltage Marx generators that store the energy and then sequentially transfer this energy to pulse-forming transmission lines with lower and lower impedance until the high currents are reached. In the multimode machines, each module produces 0.7-TW to 4-TW output pulses, and all of the modules are connected together to supply energy to a single diode.
Research Organization:
Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (USA); Harry Diamond Labs., Adelphi, MD (USA); Physics International Co., San Leandro, CA (USA); Maxwell Labs., Inc., San Diego, CA (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
AC04-76DP00789
OSTI ID:
6642885
Report Number(s):
SAND-86-2379C; CONF-870302-17; ON: DE87007088
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English