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FAQ - ion gun related paper a must read quick rinse

Posted: Fri Nov 20, 2020 5:31 pm
by Richard Hull
I have never made and ion gun in my life. Therefore, no data from me beyond this rather important attached paper. It is a quick rinse for those interested in the topic. Yes, I could have put it in the files forum, but how often do we really go to it, cold, for data. Yes, I could have just dropped it in the ion gun ongoing forum, but it would cycle down out of sight. I found it informative.

I know a gang o' ion gun theory and construction details from reading over the years, but have never overcome the rest inertia to make one. I feel the ideal would be to have a spherical fusor with a number of 2.75 ion gun ports about it much like the Farnsworth late models. In this manner, one could freely play with any number of easy to test out gun ideas on a working fusor. This might demand a 10" spherical fusor to accommodate all those larger ports with ease. A 6 or 8 inch" fusor might benefit from 1.33 ports with reduced ion gun source capability. Regardless, one would be buying a lot of smaller vacuum level insulators in the 1-3kv range.

Thinking more conservatively, a special gun testing system might prove a better idea. Tests might benefit from a simple cylinder, "beam on target" system to test any single ion gun design for a more advanced fusor rather than go for the sphere right off the bat.

The attached paper is a, take you by the hand, power point program in PDF format. I feel this is a great FAQ for this rarely used forum. Facts and the basic math are given step by step. Read and learn some basic basics.

Once opened, just tap on the right arrow button to advance page by page. Pages 10-13 speak to how we operate our inefficient, but fully functional fusors. Page 15 speaks to the earliest Farnsworth canal ray ion sources. These would be an easy make for amateur fusors as a wall based deuteron source. Such sources would prove far more workable in a spherical fusor. While weak, such sources would prove workable and better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, fusion wise, in improving the simple fusor.

I attach a photo of the ITT Farnsworth canal ray ion sources.

Richard Hull

Re: FAQ - ion gun related paper a must read quick rinse

Posted: Sat Nov 21, 2020 12:52 pm
by Maciek Szymanski
That’s really great introductory material Richard! I would also recommend the chapter on ion sources for magnetic mirror systems in “Controlled Thermonuclear Reactions” by Glasstone and Lovberg (including the great bibliography). There is also a very in depth chapter on the penning ion source in “Characteristics Of Electrical Discharges In Magnetic Fields” by Guthrie and Wakerling (page 345) available free of charge in The Archive (as well as the previous book):

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dl ... 1/mode/2up