Correlation between voltage holding capability and light emission in a 500 keV electrostatic accelerator utilized for fusion application

Hanada, Masaya; Ikeda, Yoshitaka; Kamada, Masaki; Kikuchi, Katsumi; Komata, Masao; Mogaki, Kazuhiko; Umeda, Naotaka; Usui, Katsutomi; Grisham, L. R.*; Kobayashi, Shinichi*

IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation, 14(3), p.572 - 576, 2007/06

https://doi.org/10.1109/TDEI.2007.369515

Voltage holding capability of a 500 keV 22 A negative ion accelerator for JT-60U was experimentally examined. Voltage holding capability was strongly correlated with intensity of the light emitted inside the accelerator by applying the acceleration voltage. Namely, stable voltage holding was realized when the light emission was well suppressed. To examine the origin of the light emission, the correlation between the light intensity and the dark current was measured. The light intensity was linearly varied with the dark current. Further, it was indicated from the direction of the dark current that electrons were emitted from cathode grids by applying the acceleration voltage. In addition, the spectroscopy measurement of the light showed that the light had a broad peak at 420 nm. No particular spectra of hydrogen, oxygen and carbon have been observed. Therefore, the light emission seemed to be originated by electron excitation of FRP itself. From these results, it was thought that the voltage holding capability of the JT-60U negative ion accelerator could be improved by suppressing the electron emission from the cathode grids.