A field evaporation deuterium ion source for neutron generators

TL;DR

This paper presents a novel electrostatic field evaporation deuterium ion source capable of rapidly producing high ion currents for neutron generation, demonstrated through proof-of-principle experiments with potential for compact neutron sources.

Contribution

It introduces a new deuterium ion source based on electrostatic field evaporation, capable of high-speed ionization from a microfabricated tip array, advancing neutron generator technology.

Findings

Able to remove over 100 monolayers of deuterated titanium in less than 20 ns

Potential to generate 10^9 to 10^10 neutrons per cm^2 with tip arrays

Demonstrated feasibility of a compact, high-output deuterium ion source

Abstract

Proof-of-principle experiments have demonstrated an electrostatic field evaporation based deuterium ion source for use in compact, high-output deuterium-tritium neutron generators. The ion source produces principally atomic deuterium and titanium ions. More than 100 monolayers of deuterated titanium thin film can be removed and ionized from a single tip in less than 20 ns. The measurements indicate that with the use of microfabricated tip arrays the deuterium ion source could provide sufficient ion current to produce 10^9 to 10^10 n/cm^2 of tip array area.