A Multichannel Automatized System for Measuring Current Pulses in the LIA-30 Electron Accelerator

Abstract

In the LIA-30 high-power linear pulsed induction electron accelerator (40 MeV, 100 kA, 25 ns), the energy is stored, and pulses of the accelerating voltage are shaped by 288 water-insulated radial lines arranged in succession along a common air-free acceleration channel. The lines are simultaneously charged up to 500 kV from 72 shielded Marx generators. To measure the parameters (amplitude, pulse shape, pulse rise time, pulse fall time, and pulse duration) of the synchronized pulses of the charging current with amplitudes as high as 60 kA and duration of 0.85 μs in each of the 72 charging circuits, an automatized measuring system is used. The current pulse is sensed at the output of each generator by a self-integrating Rogovsky coil galvanically isolated from the generator. The signal from the coil is transmitted over a cable to an analog-to-digital converter, sampled with a period of 50 ns, and recorded in memory. Upon operating the accelerator, the signals are reproduced in succession or selectively on the display screen, and their shapes are compared to the shape of a standard pulse.