High average power, high current pulsed accelerator technology

High current pulsed accelerator technology was developed during the late 60's through the late 80's to satisfy the needs of various military related applications such as effects simulators, particle beam devices, free electron lasers, and as drivers for inertial confinement fusion devices. The emphasis in these devices is to achieve very high peak power levels, with pulse lengths on the order of a few 10's of nanoseconds, peak currents of up to 10's of MA, and accelerating potentials of up to 10's of MV. New high average power systems, incorporating thermal management techniques, are enabling the potential use of high peak power technology in a number of diverse industrial application areas such as materials processing, food processing, stack gas cleanup, and the destruction of organic contaminants. These systems employ semiconductor and saturable magnetic switches to achieve short pulse durations that can then be added to efficiently give MV accelerating potentials while delivering average power levels of a few 100's of kilowatts to perhaps many megawatts. The Repetitive High Energy Pulsed Power project is developing short-pulse, high current accelerator technology capable of generating beams with kJ's of energy per pulse delivered to areas of 1000 cm/sup 2/ or more using ions, electrons, or X-rays. Modular technology is employed to meet the needs of a variety of applications requiring from 100's of kV to MV's and from 10's to 100's of kA. Modest repetition rates, up to a few 100's of pulses per second (PPS), allow these machines to deliver average currents on the order of a few 100's of mA. The design and operation of the second generation 300 kW RHEPP-II machine, now being brought on-line to operate at 2.5 MV, 25 kA, and 100 PPS will be described in detail as one example of the new high average power, high current pulsed accelerator technology.