Experimental Studies of Electrostatic Acceleration of Microprojectiles

The acceleration of solid material to velocities 100 kms using reasonable length accelerators can best be accomplished if electrostatic techniques are utilized. An accelerator for nanogram microprojectiles is being developed to demonstrate the basic principles for a multistage system based on the sequential application of voltage pulses 100 kV. Experiments have been performed stressing carbon material to electric fields 1.6x10expn 9m, a field adequate to attain charge-to-mass ratios qm of 5.0 Ckg for micron-diameter projectiles. An injector for charging and launching the microprojectiles into an accelerator has been constructed and operated with qm 1 Ckg. Specialized diagnostics for recording the microprojectiles charge and trajectory include a Faraday cup, and a schlieren optical system coupled to an electronic streak camera and to a microchannel plate framing camera. A five-stage system is presently being and tested to attain a microprojectile velocity of 1 kms as a proof-of-concept demonstration.