Magnetically Insulation Ion Diode with a Gas-Breakdown Plasma Anode
Abstract
An active anode plasma source has been developed for use in a magnetically insulated ion diode operated on a 10 to the 10th power W pulsed power generator. This source uses an inductive voltage from a single turn coil to break down an annular gas puff produced by a supersonic nozzle. The resulting plasma is magnetically driven toward the radial insulating magnetic field in the diode accelerating gap and stagnates at a well-defined surface after about 300 ns to form a plasma anode layer defined by magnetic flux surfaces. An ion beam is then extracted from this plasma layer by applying a 150 kV, 1 microsec pulse to the accelerating gap. Optimization of the timing of the gas puff, the plasma production discharge and the high voltage pulse has resulted in 1 microsec duration 75-150 keV ion beam pulses with >100 A/sq cm peak ion current density over an area of about 400 cm. Up to 5 J/sq cm has been collected by a 4 sq cm calorimeter. The diode impedance history can be varied so that rising, flat, and falling voltage pulse waveforms can be produced. Streak photographs of beamlets impinging on a scintillator and time integrated targets both show beam divergence angles < or = 3 deg, but under certain operating conditions, large excursions (about 25 deg) in mean aiming angle on time scales of 20-200 ns are observed.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 1987
- Accession Number
- ADA220602
Entities
People
- D. A. Hammer
- G. D. Rondeau
- J. B. Greenly
- M. Ueda
Organizations
- Cornell University