An electrostatic particle accelerator

A pressurized electrostatic generator has been designed to give as nearly as possible a uniform field in the dielectric medium, and the expected performance is calculated assuming that the insulating gas breaks down at 200 kV/cm. The construction of the generator and of a multi-section ion-accelerator tube is also described, and the performance of the machine both as a voltage generator and as an ion accelerator is reported. Novel methods of metering currents at the high-voltage electrode allow the behaviour of the generator in the presence of an ion beam to be analysed. The voltage stabilization of the accelerator and the stability of the main servo loops are discussed. A beam analyser employing electrostatic deflection provides precise absolute measurement of the beam energy. Calibration points on the high-voltage scale at 874.7 and 2567 kV have been accurately determined. The peak performance is 3.8 MV with the 9 ft tube and 5.5 MV without the tube. Proton beams up to 3.25 MeV have been obtained with an energy resolution of 1 in 1200.