X-ray source for irradiation of large-area objects

The results of experiments with a three-ring large-area diode that were conducted on an MIG pulse generator are reported. The MIG generator makes it possible to produce in a matched load electrical pulses up to 2 TW in power with an FWHM of 50–60 ns (1.2–1.4 TW and 80–90 ns in our experiments). In the operating mode of the generator, the current amplitude through the load is 2 MA (the current of a relativistic electron beam) at a diode voltage of $\approx$ 500 kV. As a load, a large-area vacuum diode with three ring-shaped cathodes is used. It is shown that about 20% of the energy stored in the capacitor bank can be converted to the energy of a relativistic electron beam by matching the output resistance of the MIG generator to the load resistance. When the beam slows down on a condensed foil target, the parameters of the resulting source are the following: the mean energy of X-ray quanta is $\approx$ 70 keV; irradiated area, 500 cm$^2$; pulse FWHM, 65 ns; energy flux in the spectrum, 2 J/cm$^2$; and percentage of X-ray radiation (10–100 keV) in the flux, $\approx$ 50%.