Beam Breakup Simulations for the Scorpius Flash-Radiography Accelerator

Beam breakup (BBU) in linear induction accelerators (LIAs) used for flash radiography is problematic because the high-frequency beam motion can blur the source spot, thereby degrading resolution. Amplification of BBU depends directly on details of cell design and is suppressed in operation by the solenoidal magnetic field focusing on the electron beam. Therefore, much effort has gone into design of the cells and magnetic focusing for the new Scorpius radiography LIA. In this article, we use computer simulations to demonstrate that BBU in Scorpius should be no more than in present radiography LIAs at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.