MOPEA

Development of an optically powered electrostatic accelerator.

The high voltage generation is carried out with a series connection of voltage generators, optically powered, electrically isolated from external references, instead of being obtained by partitioning from a single high-voltage terminal.

Electrical insulation is achieved by immersing the accelerator body into a liquid dielectric instead of high-pressure gas.

The potential of each electrode is produced by connecting in series discs that are the stabilised, optically powered, electrically floating voltage generators, instead of being obtained by partitioning from a single high-voltage terminal.

The power required for operation is provided by laser beams on optical fibre converted into electrical energy by semiconductor devices, e.g., high-efficiency photovoltaic cells. This type of power supply allows the individual modules to be decoupled from the earth potential reference and thus their connection in series. This connection technique can be applied to create accelerators in both “single-ended” and “tandem” configurations.

The accelerator thus becomes modular and scalable, a feature lacking in the available industrial devices.