Mike M. Ong

Upgrades to the LLNL flash X-ray induction linear accelerator (FXR)

The FXR is an induction linear accelerator used for flash radiography at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratorys Site 300 Test Facility. The FXR was originally completed in 1982 and has been in continuous use as a radiographic tool. At that time the FXR produced a 17 MeV, 2.2 kA burst of electrons for a duration of 65 ns. An upgrade of the FXR was recently completed. The purpose of this upgrade was to improve the performance of the FXR by increasing the energy of the electron injector from 1.2 MeV to 2.5 MeV and the beam current from 2.2 kA to 3 kA, improving the magnetic transport system by redesigning the solenoidal transport focus coils, reducing the RF coupling of the electron beam to the accelerator cells, and by adding additional beam diagnostics. The authors describe the injector upgrades and performance, as well as their efforts to tune the accelerator by minimizing beam corkscrew motion and the impact of beam breakup instability on beam centroid motion throughout the beam line as the current is increased to 3 kA.

An Induction Linac Test Stand

A single-cell test stand has been constructed at LLNL for studies aimed at improving the performance of the FXR radiographic facility. It has guided the development of diagnostics, pulsed power improvements, machine maintenance, and interface issues relevant to the entire accelerator. Based on this work, numerous machine improvements have been made which have resulted in demonstrable improvements in radiographic resolution and overall machine performance.

Flash X-Ray (FXR) Accelerator Optimization Injector Voltage-Variation Compensation via Beam-Induced Gap Voltage

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is evaluating design alternatives to improve the voltage regulation in our injector and accelerator cells of our Flash X-Ray (FXR) machine. The operational peak electron beam current and energy at the X-ray generating target are 3.2 kA and 17 MeV. The goal is to create a more mono-energetic electron beam with variation of less than 1%-root-mean-squared (rms). This would allow the beam to be focused more tightly and create an X-ray source with a smaller spot-size. Our injector appears to have significant voltage-variation, and this report describes a technique to appreciably correct the deviations. When an electron beam crosses the energized gap of an accelerator cell, the energy increases. However, the beam with the associated electromagnetic wave also loses a small amount of energy because of the increased impedance seen across each gap. The phenomenon is sometimes called beam loading. It can also be described as a beam-induced voltage at the gap which is time varying. The polarity of this induced voltage is the opposite of the voltage in the injector. The time varying profiles of the injector and induced gap voltage are related through the beam current. However, while the change in magnitude is similar, they are not exactly the same. With the right choice of cell and pulse-power system impedance, the injector variations can be greatly reduced by cancellation, but not totally eliminated. The FXR injector voltage is estimated to be 2.5 MV-peak. The variation is estimated to be about 3.0%-rms for an interval of 60 ns. A simplified mathematical explanation of voltage compensation is given, and an idealized injector profile is used to quantify the effectiveness in a computer simulation. The result calls for a constant cell and pulse-power system impedance of 12.1 Omega. For this impedance, the compensated injector voltage-variation is less than 0.1%-rms.

Test stand for linear induction accelerator optimization

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has designed and constructed a test stand to improve the voltage regulation in our flash X-Ray (FXR) accelerator cell. The goal is to create a more mono-energetic electron beam that creates an X-ray source with a smaller spot size. Studying the interaction of the beam and pulse-power system with the accelerator cell improves the design of high-current accelerators at Livermore and elsewhere. On the test stand, a standard FXR cell is driven by a flexible pulse-power system and the beam current is simulated with a switched center conductor. The test stand is fully instrumented with high-speed digitizers to document the effect of impedance mis-matches when the cell is operated under various full-voltage conditions. A time-domain reflectometry technique was also developed to characterize the beam and cell interactions by measuring the impedance of the accelerator and pulse-power component. Computer models are being developed in parallel with the testing program to validate the measurements and evaluate different design changes. Both 3D transient electromagnetic and circuit models are being used.

Estimating the Reliability of the LLNL Flash X-ray (FXR) Machine

Summary form only given. At Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), our flash X-ray accelerator (FXR) is used on multi-million dollar hydrodynamic experiments. Because of the importance of the radiographs, FXR must be ultra-reliable. Flash linear accelerators that can generate a 3 kA beam at 18 MeV are very complex. They have thousands, if not millions, of critical components that could prevent the machine from performing correctly. For the last five years, we have quantified and are tracking component failures. From this data, we have determined that the reliability of the high-voltage gas-switches that initiate the pulses, which drive the accelerator cells, dominates the statistics. The failure mode is a single-switch pre-fire that reduces the energy of the team and degrades the X-ray spot-size. The unfortunate result is a lower resolution radiograph. FXR is a production machine that allows only a modest number of pulses for testing. Therefore, reliability switch testing that requires thousands of shots is performed on our test stand. Study of representative switches has produced pre-fire statistical information and probability distribution curves. This information is applied to FXR to develop test procedures and determine individual switch reliability using a minimal number of accelerator pulses.

Bonded penetration analysis for a severe lightning strike to a facility

Lightning strikes pose a serious threat to facilities and their subsystems. If a facility takes a direct strike, large amounts of pulsed electromagnetic (EM) energy can radiate into the interior of the facility. This energy can couple into electronic systems causing failures. Often, proper shielding of the facility can reduce the radiated energy by an order of magnitude. In an attempt to reduce pulsed EM energy, facilities are built to resemble a Faraday cage. However, most facilities have several imperfections which limit the effectiveness of their shielding capabilities. Penetrations into the facility are a type of imperfection that allows EM fields to be produced in the interior of the facility. Therefore, penetrations must be connected to the Faraday cage through bond wires to maintain the shields integrity and protect sensitive components. Finite element computer simulations have been performed to determine the effects of bonded penetrations, using 6 AWG bond wires. In an attempt to offer guidelines, which optimize the facilitys shielding effectiveness; several bond wire configurations have been investigated. Bond wire lengths, bond wire orientation, single and multiple bond wire configurations and varying the angle between bond wires have been investigated. Simulation results have shown that multiple bond wires result in greater than 40dB reduction of pulsed EM fields in the interior of the facility and a spacing of greater than 45° is optimum for bond wire spacing, for the simulated facility. In addition, the penetration current diverted by the bond wire was monitored. For severe direct lightning strikes, i.e. Ipeak=200 kA and dI/dt=400 kA/μs, the simulation suggest greater than 90% of the lightning current is diverted through the bond wire into the Faraday cage for the configurations examined. The high current nature of the severe lightning pulse produces large Lorentz forces on the bond wire. Laboratory experiments are being developed at the LLNL pulsed power lab to ensure that bond wires maintain proper connection when exposed to high currents, ensuring desired shielding throughout a direct strike.

Real-Life Pulse Flattening on the LLNL Flash X-Ray (FXR) Machine

High-resolution radiography using high-current electron accelerators based on the linear induction accelerator principle requires the linac’ final spot on the X-ray target to be millimeter-sized. The requisite final focusing solenoid is adjusted for a specific beam energy at its entrance, hence, temporal variation of entrance beam energy results in a less than optimal time-averaged spot size.

An improved SF6 system for the FXR induction linac blumlein switches

The now-mature FXR (flash X-ray) radiographic facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory will be briefly described with emphasis on its pulsed power system. The heart of each accelerating cells pulse-forming Blumlein is its sulfur hexafluoride-based triggered closing switch. FXRs recent upgrade to a recirculating SF6 gas reclamation system will be described and the resulting accelerator performance and reliability improvements documented. This was accompanied by a detailed switch breakdown study on FXRs test stand and the recent analysis of the resulting statistics will be shown.

Design of a high field stress, velvet cathode for the Flash X-Ray (FXR) induction accelerator

A new cathode design has been proposed for the flash X-ray (FXR) induction linear accelerator with the goal of lowering the beam emittance. The original design uses a conventional Pierce geometry and applies a peak field of 134 kV/cm (no beam) to the velvet emission surface. Voltage/current measurements indicate that the velvet begins emitting near this peak field value and images of the cathode show a very non-uniform distribution of plasma light. The new design has a flat cathode/shroud profile that allows for a peak field stress of 230 kV/cm on the velvet. The emission area is reduced by about a factor of four to generate the same total current due to the greater field stress. The relatively fast acceleration of the beam, approximately 2.5 MeV in 10 cm, reduces space charge forces that tend to hollow the beam for a flat, non-Pierce geometry. The higher field stress achieved with the same rise time is expected to lead to an earlier and more uniform plasma formation over the velvet surface. Simulations and initial testing are presented.

Estimating the reliability of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) flash X-ray (FXR) machine

At Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), our flash X-ray accelerator (FXR) is used on multi-million dollar hydrodynamic experiments. Because of the importance of the radiographs, FXR must be ultra-reliable. Flash linear accelerators that can generate a 3 kA beam at 18 MeV are very complex. They have thousands, if not millions, of critical components that could prevent the machine from performing correctly. For the last five years, we have quantified and are tracking component failures. From this data, we have determined that the reliability of the high-voltage gas-switches that initiate the pulses, which drive the accelerator cells, dominates the statistics. The failure mode is a single-switch pre-fire that reduces the energy of the beam and degrades the X-ray spot-size. The unfortunate result is a lower resolution radiograph.