Application of high speed frame camera on the intense electron beam accelerator: An overview

Abstract

AbstractHigh speed framing camera (HSFC) could be used to capture the image of the electron beams generated by the intense electron-beam accelerator (IEBA), and it is useful to visualize the evolution of discharging and plasma generation phenomenon. So an overview of the application of HSFC on the IEBA is presented. First, we introduce the synchronization problem of HSFC and IEBA, and a synchronization trigger system which could provide a trigger signal with rise time of 17 ns and amplitude of about 5 V is presented. Second, an imaging system based on IEBA, HSFC, and the synchronization trigger system is developed, and it can be used to image the developmental process of plasma in the output vacuum chamber of IEBA and to measure the electrical parameter of IEBA and electrical trigger signal in real time. Furthermore, the imaging system is used to investigate the developmental process of the electron beam of the A-K gap in vacuum under 180 nanosecond quasi-square pulses. It is obtained that the short A-K gap is closed prematurely under long pulse operation with plasma expansion velocity of about 6.25 cm/µs and the light emission in the A-K gap region has the characteristics of “re-ignition” with light duration time about 3800 ns. At last, the discharging process of surface flashover channel of poly-methyl methacrylate (PMMA) insulator with gap spacing of 170 mm in vacuum under nanosecond quasi-square pulses is studied by the imaging system, and the change of luminosity is analyzed during the surface flashover process.