Two-Million-Volt Electrostatic Accelerator for Hypervelocity Research

Abstract

A 2 000 000‐v Van de Graaff positive ion accelerator has been modified to accelerate micron‐sized charged particles for studies of high speed impact and for micrometeor simulation. Modification was accomplished by replacing the ion source by a particle charging and injection system. The particles are contact charged to values resulting in electric field strengths at the surface of the particle of about 2.5×109 v/m. Using iron spheres, final velocities up to 14 km/sec have been observed. Techniques for measurement of particle parameters have been developed and measurements of the focusing properties of the modified accelerator are discussed.