A pulse power modulator system for commercial high power ion beam surface treatment applications

The ion beam surface treatment (IBEST/sup TM/) process utilizes high energy pulsed ion beams to deposit energy onto the surface of a material allowing near instantaneous melting of the surface layer. The melted layer typically re-solidifies at a very rapid rate which forms homogenous, fine-grained structure on the surface of the material resulting in significantly improved surface characteristics. In order to commercialize the IBEST/sup TM/ process, a reliable and easy-to-operate modulator system has been developed. The QM-1 modulator is a thyratron-switched five-stage magnetic pulse compression network which drives a two-stage linear induction adder. The adder provides 400 kV, 150 ns FWHM pulses at a maximum repetition rate of 10 pps for the acceleration of the ion beam. Special emphasis has been placed upon developing the modulator system to be consistent with long-life commercial service.