Negative ion-driven associated particle neutron generator

Abstract

An associated particle neutron generator is described that employs a negative ion source to produce high neutron flux from a small source size. Negative ions produced in an rf-driven plasma source are extracted through a small aperture to form a beam which bombards a positively biased, high voltage target electrode. Electrons co-extracted with the negative ions are removed by a permanent magnet electron filter. The use of negative ions enables high neutron output (100% atomic ion beam), high quality imaging (small neutron source size), and reliable operation (no high voltage breakdowns). The neutron generator can operate in either pulsed or continuous-wave (cw) mode and has been demonstrated to produce 10(6) D-D n/s (equivalent to similar to 10(8) D-T n/s) from a 1 mm-diameter neutron source size to facilitate high fidelity associated particle imaging. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.