A Pyroelectric Crystal Particle Accelerator

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A Pyroelectric Crystal Particle Accelerator

• Amanda Gehring, Rose-Hulman Institute of
  Technology
• Rand Watson, Texas AM Cyclotron Institute

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Pyroelectric Crystals
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Experimental Setup
D D ? 3He n (820 KeV)
(2.45 MeV) D D ? T p
(1.01 MeV) (3.02 MeV)
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Goals of Experiment

• Instigate d d fusion and optimize the neutron
  output by varying the D2 gas pressure
• Optimize parameters that determine the intensity
  and energy of the particle beam
• Examine feasibility of using the system as a
  neutron generator

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Pyroelectric Crystals

• LiNbO3 and LiTaO3

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Inner System
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First Set of Experiments

• Energy calibrated Si(Li) x-ray detector using a
  241-Am source
• Conducted runs under vacuum at the heating
  currents of 0.5 A, 1.0 A, 1.5 A, and 2.0 A
• Recorded the number of x-rays in 10 s intervals
• Acquired x-ray spectra

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Temperature Change and X-ray Count Rate
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X-ray Spectrum at Heating Cycle
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X-ray Spectrum at Cooling Cycle
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Heating Current Effect on Energy
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Heating Current Effect on Beam Intensity
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Second Set of Experiments

• Energy calibrated liquid scintillator neutron
  detector using a 252-Cf source
• Conducted runs with D2 gas at pressures of 5.0,
  2.5, 1.2, 0.5, and 0.1 mtorr.
• Recorded the number of neutrons and x-rays in 10
  s intervals
• Acquired x-ray spectra

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Temperature Change and Neutron Count Rate
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X-ray Spectrum at Heating Cycle
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X-ray Spectrum at Cooling Cycle
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D2 Pressure Effect on Energy
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D2 Pressure Effect on Beam Intensity
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Future Research

• Address discharges and unfocused beam
• Run experiments under different deuterium gas
  pressures
• Replicate previous results
• Use of two pyroelectric crystals

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Acknowledgements

• National Science Foundation
• Department of Energy
• Texas AM Cyclotron Institute
• Dr. Rand Watson
• Jon Kalodimos

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Results
Run Current (A) Max x-ray Heating Energy (keV) Max x-ray Cooling Energy (keV) Max Heating Count Rate (counts/s) Avg. Max Heating Count Rate (counts/s) Max Cooling Count Rate (counts/s) Avg. Max Cooling Count Rate (counts/s)
2 0.5 36 - - 154 - -
3 1.0 53 43 4118 3664 117 72
4 1.0 61 30 1505 1097 - -
5 1.5 66 65 11175 6806 441 182
8 2.0 74 76 13591 10573 1470 735
11 2.0 55 71 13220 8148 1509 493
12 2.0 72 88 15063 11687 1641 1066
13 2.0 88 80 15816 12980 - -