NSF Award
9060653
There is an increasing need for low cost electron accelerators which are compact, efficient and capable of operating at high current and power levels in the energy range of 10-1000 MeV. We propose to perform research on the new Induction Synchrotron Accelerator (ISA) concept with the objective of meeting this need. The ISA operates by recirculating an electron beam pulse ( 30 ns long) through induction- type acceleration cells which are driven by a pulse generator at 10 MHz. The closed-orbit, transport magnet design is similar to that for conventional synchrotrons, and beam pulses are injected and extracted using kicker magnets. An ISA can be recycled at up to 5 kHz to generate high average beam powers. The key issue for the ISA concept is achieving the required pulse repetition rate over many recirculations. We propose to develop a new pulse generator concept based on the use of high-speed, power-MOSFET switches combined with magnetic pulse compression techniques. The following research tasks will be performed in Phase I to assess the technical feasibility of the ISA concept: (1) demonstrate that switches formed using series- parallel arrays of power-MOSFET devices are suitable for ISA applications; (2) perform experiments to characterize and evaluate a small-scale ISA driver circuit and (3) develop a conceptual design for a Phase II proof-of-principle ISA experiment. If successful, this work will verify the technical feasibility of critical aspects of the ISA concept.
