Improving ion beam injector performance by augmenting capacitance of vacuum diode

The recirculating induction accelerator is a new class of particle accelerator being developed at LLNL as a reduced-cost driver for heavy-ion beam driven inertial fusion energy. Ongoing research and development of advanced beam control technologies for the recirculator system requires a very stable and reproducible ion beam source. The injector pulse modulator must be capable of producing very precise high-voltage pulses in order to reduce the current modulation instability and achieve the required beam reproducibility. Computer modeled simulations of beam dynamics have established that errors greater than 0.1 percent in the flatness of the 120 kV injector pulse can create intolerable energy deviations. The pulse modulator that was developed to satisfy the stringent requirements is described in the accompanying paper by Wilson (1998). A crucial aspect of the overall solution is a modification made to the vacuum diode apparatus, whereby high-voltage capacitors were added in close proximity to the thermionic potassium-ion emitter. This paper discusses the rationale for augmenting the normally small capacitance of the injector diode, and presents design information, including an illustrated layout, electrostatic field modeling results, and data on ceramic capacitors operating at elevated levels.