About the Electrodynamic Acceleration of Macroscopic Particles

TL;DR

This paper explores a method for accelerating macroscopic particles using combined electrostatic pre-acceleration and electromagnetic wave acceleration, achieving significant velocity increases over a 20-meter length.

Contribution

It introduces a novel acceleration scheme combining electrostatic and electromagnetic methods for macroscopic particles, with experimental results demonstrating velocity enhancement.

Findings

Particles accelerated from v/c=1e-5 to 1e-4

Acceleration length of 20 meters

Use of electrostatic doublets for focusing

Abstract

An electric charge is imparted to macroscopic particles, whereupon they are pre-accelerated in an electrostatic field by the high voltage U = 220 kV. Then the particles are accelerated by a traveling electromagnetic wave with the initial phase velocity lying in the range v/c = 1e-3 - 1e-5. Focusing the particles is provided by electrostatic doublets. At the acceleration length L = 20 m, the particles with Z/A = 2.3e-7 increase their velocity from v/c = 1e-5 to v/c = 1e-4.