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Products & Services for Accelerators

Linear Particle Accelerators, known more commonly as Linear Accelerators or LINACS, are a means of accelerating a charged particle down a linear tube (“beam-line”) using high electric potentials across repeating sections. LINACS can be used for the generation of x-rays, gamma rays, and other high-energy photons used in defense and civilian purposes, such as cancer treatment and particle physics research. For large LINAC systems, such as those used at Department of Energy (DOE) labs, time on these machines is purchased by a customer for a specific area of research. As they say, “time is money”, and in this case it couldn’t be more true. Down-time on these complex machines not only costs the labs that own and operate them, but also the scientists who have limited windows of opportunity to conduct their research on them. Because of this, the subsystems and components used on these accelerators need to be low-maintenance, long life-time, dependable, and easily reconfigured/repaired.

With greater than 20 years in the business of pulsed power and high-voltage, APELC brings a suite of technologies to support the linear accelerator community that are mature in their development and focus on saving our customers time and money in the long run. A handful of APELC components and systems for the linear accelerator community are listed below.

Low-Jitter Marx Generators for Trigger Applications

While many of our commercially available Marx Generators are suitable for triggering applications, the MG15-3C-940PF is perhaps the most used and best suited for the triggering of larger pulsed power systems. The MG15-3C-940PF is a compact, low-jitter (~2ns RMS) pulse generator that utilizes compressed dry-air as a switching medium (no oil and no SF6) and can provide up to 300kV into a 50Ohm load. Additionally, the modular design and APELC coaxial quick-disconnect connectors at both the input (charge and trigger) and output make the MG15 an easily installed and serviced part of any facility.

Rack-Mount Trigger Generators

APELC manufacturers both off-the-shelf and custom rack mount trigger generators that utilize a number of different switching techniques depending on the customer’s requirements. Our standard TU-18KV is a thyratron-based trigger generator that provides the low-jitter (~1nsRMS) 18kV (into 50Ohms) trigger pulse for triggering APELC or customer-supplied Marx Generators. Our custom rack-mount trigger generators can provide up to 150kV into a 50ohm load, while maintaining low-jitter and low-maintenance operation.

Marx Generators for Directly Sourcing Vacuum Diodes

The impedance and pulse characteristics of APELC Marx Generators can be tailored to source vacuum diodes ranging from e-beams to flash X-ray sources. We specialize in making pulse generators for diodes ranging from 50keV to 5MeV and ensure that each system provides the customer with the highest degree of dependability and ease of maintenance.

APELC Coaxial Quick-Disconnect Connectors

APELC began developing coaxial quick-disconnect connectors for our own line of Marx Generators and discovered the usefulness of these connectors for other applications in the pulsed power and accelerator communities. With input from multiple DOE partners, APELC developed a suite of connectors for high-voltage coaxial cable with voltage hold-offs ranging from the tens to hundreds of kV. These connectors provide a high-visibility indicator that gives the operator a fail-safe indication of the connectors engagement.

Custom Solutions

With 20+ years in the field of pulsed power, coupled with a state-of-the-art ISO-9001:2015 CNC machine shop, APELC can design and manufacture high-quality, dependable components for linear accelerators. While APELC has a suite of existing technologies for this application, we are also available for custom designs and even build-to-print work- with the added value of being able to test and validate the systems we manufacture use high-voltage and high-speed transient diagnostics.

If you would like to learn more about how APELC can help your accelerator application, contact us at info@apelc.com

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