Prototype of a tubeless vacuum insulated accelerator

The construction of a small prototype of a new kind of Cockroft-Walton accelerator is in progress. The onion-wise disposal of the capacitor plates allows a high-gradient compact machine, as well as the assurance of reliability. This kind of machine can overcome the problem of having an accelerating column of high perveance. In fact, because of its peculiar electromechanical structure, the whole high voltage generator can be settled inside a vacuum chamber and then an electron beam can be accelerated directly by the capacitor plates of the voltage multipliers. The scaled-up version of this machine seems to be particularly suited for high-current, high-efficiency applications, like FEL, ion acceleration for plasma heating or containment. The status report of the experiment will be presented.