Positive-polarity rod-pinch experiments on the RITS-6 accelerator

RITS-6 is an inductive voltage adder (IVA) based accelerator used forradiographic diode research and development¹. Experiments have been conducted with various radiographic diodes with diode voltages of 5-11 MV. A recent experiment was conducted to demonstrate that a negative polarity IVA could operate in positive polarity, at reduced voltage, with minimal reconfiguration and maintenance. Circuit simulations, 2-D electrostatic field calculations, and PIC simulations were used to evaluate operation of RITS-6 in positive polarity and design hardware modifications. Changes to the RITS-6 accelerator during the conversion from negative-polarity high voltage (5-11 MV) output to positive-polarity low voltage (2-3 MV) output will be discussed. Results of the first positive-polarity rod-pinch diode² experiments on RITS-6 will be presented.