COMPACT PULSED ACCELERATOR ARSA FOR APPLICATION IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY

RFNC-VNIIEF has developed and successfully applied in physical research a small-size pulsed accelerator ARSA built upon a ten-cascade Marx generator of 1 MV voltage. An essential feature of the Marx generator is pulse charging of capacitors. Current switching is provided by high-pressure spark gaps. The accelerating tube which is a cold cathode sealed vacuum diode serves as source of electron or X-ray pulses. The dose at the output window is 3×104 Gy and 3 Gy, respectively, in a 10 ns shot. A blade-type cathode provides both uniform current density and radiation field. The high-voltage unit is about 50 kg weight. The ARSA accelerator incorporates a package of measurement equipment to obtain the required information on radiation fields. Stability in performance