FEASIBILITY OF HIGH-VOLTAGE X-RAY TUBES AS INTENSE GAMMA AND NEUTRON SOURCES.
Abstract
A feasibility study is undertaken to design an improved laboratory source of high-intensity radiation for investigating gamma radiation effects on various materials. Pulsed reactors, Cobalt-60 facilities, and commercial high-voltage radiation devices, such as accelerators and Linacs, have several drawbacks as sources for such radiation effects studies, including extreme voltage and shielding requirements, limited target currents, harder spectrum than desired, unwanted neutron production, and insufficient dose rates. An improved radiation source would produce peak X-ray dose rates of 10 to the 11th power R/sec with good uniformity over a 1 sq/ft area in pulses of very short duration; it could be focused to prevent primary electron beam divergence and to limit secondary emissions, and designed for minimum cathode/target spacing to reduce the space charge current limitation. The field emission diode designed as a flash X-ray tube has been proved a feasible radiation source in the multimegavolt low-impedance range. A short-pulse, low-impedance coaxial Blumlein output stage, pulse-charged by a high-energy Marx-surge primary also appears feasible as high-power input to a hollow-beam magnetically focused flash X-ray tube. Several such tubes embodying the hollow-beam geometry have been successfully designed and evaluated in conjunction with an equally feasible Blumlein generator technique. The preliminary results permit design of a 7-Mv, 200-kamp flash X-ray system. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 01, 1965
- Accession Number
- AD0475782
Entities
People
- J. L. Barbour
- J. L. Brewster
- L. F. Garrett
- M. P. Hafner
- R. E. Anderson