Increasing the Dose Rate on the DARHT-II Accelerator

Abstract

Recent studies have shown a strong correlation between spot size on target and the dose. At higher doses, the spot size is larger. At very low doses (< 75 R @ 1m per pulse) all four spots are small and essentially the same with 50%MTFs of 1.0-1.2 mm. For higher dose pulse formats, the first two pulses, P1 and P2 remain small (< 1.2 mm 50%MTF) and relatively independent of dose. The later pulses, P3 and P4, become larger as the dose increases. Longer pulse lengths are required to achieve higher doses. There are simulations that suggest space charge neutralization and current neutralization could be introducing dynamic changes in the spot size over the pulse. This implies that increasing the dose rate will allow for reduced pulse lengths and spot size for the same dose.