Coaxial Microwave Neutron Interrogation Source

A compact neutron generator is being developed based on a novel coaxial dipole permanent magnet electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) ion source. The ion source is capable of generating a high fraction of atomic ion species and can operate at low pressure. Multiple deuterium ion (D+) beamlets are extracted from the plasma ion source and accelerated to a beam-loaded titanium target creating 2.4 MeV neutrons as a result of the D-D fusion reaction at the target surface. This paper describes the design of the ECR-based neutron generator as well as reports on preliminary simulation and experimental results of the ion source performance.