Substantial increase in acceleration potential of pyroelectric crystals
نویسندگان
چکیده
We report on a substantial increase in the acceleration potential achieved with a LiTaO3 pyroelectric crystal. With a single 2.5 cm diameter and 2.5 cm long z-cut crystal without electric field-enhancing nanotip we produced positive ion beams with maximal energies between 300 and 310 keV during the cooling phase when the crystal was exposed to 5 mTorr of deuterium gas. These values are about a factor of 2 larger than previously obtained with single pyroelectric crystals. © 2010 American Institute of Physics. doi:10.1063/1.3309841
منابع مشابه
Pyroelectric crystal D-D and D-T neutron generators
Pyroelectric neutron generators are a recent development utilizing the pyroelectric effect to produce an accelerating electric field and thus enabling creation of small electron and ion accelerators without external high voltage power supply. The principle of operation includes a pyroelectric crystal (LiTaO3 for example) placed in vacuum and simple heating (or cooling) of the crystal to cause a...
متن کاملPyroelectric Crystal-Generated Neutron Production: Preliminary Results Using a Portable Vacuum System
Pyroelectric crystals have been used to achieve D-D fusion. One goal of research conducted at RPI is to develop a portable neutron generator using pyroelectric crystals as an ionization and acceleration source for deuterium ions. The research reported here includes the use of two pyroelectric crystals to generate neutrons in a portable prototype vacuum system. Experiments were conducted to dete...
متن کاملApplications of pyroelectric particle accelerators
The discovery of pyroelectric X-ray generation in 1992 by Brownridge has led to a recent surge of interest in the use of the pyroelectric effect as a means of producing useful radiation. By heating or cooling a pyroelectric crystal such as lithium tantalate (LiTaO3) in a vacuum, a potential on the order of 100 kV can be generated. This potential is great enough to eject electrons from the cryst...
متن کاملElectron and positive ion acceleration with pyroelectric crystals
The phenomenon of pyroelectric electron emission has been employed to develop miniature x-ray sources, such as the Cool-X by Amptek swww.amptek.com/coolx.htmld. The source strength of a pyroelectric x-ray generator is dependent on the emitted electron energy and current. Similarly, the source strength of a pyroelectric neutron generator will be dependent on the energy and production rate of deu...
متن کاملElectron Acceleration for X-ray Production Using Paired Pyroelectric Crystals
The exposure of pyroelectric crystals to a heating cycle in near-vacuum conditions has been shown to be a viable method of producing x-rays. The z-negative face of the crystal forms a positive charge as the crystal heats, and a negative charge as it cools. The opposite is true for the z-positive face. Literature has shown that this charge is great enough to accelerate electrons to energies of u...
متن کامل