Advances in X-Band and S-Band Linear Accelerators for Security, NDT, and Other Applications

At AS&E High Energy Systems Division, we designed several new advanced high energy electron beam and X-ray sources. Our primary focus has always been in building the world’s most portable commercial X-band accelerators. Today, our X-band systems frequently exceed performance of the similar S-band machines, while they are more portable compared to the latter. The new designs of the X-band accelerators in the most practical energy range from 1 MeV to 6 MeV have been tested delivering outstanding results. More than 100 linacs systems have been produced over HES history and history of its predecessor, SRC. The most compact linac for security is used by AS&E in a self-shielded, Shaped Energy ™ cargo screening system. We pioneered using the X-band linear accelerators for CT, producing high quality images of oil pipes and wood logs. An X-band linear accelerator head on a robotic arm has been used for electron beam radiation curing of an odd-shaped graphite composite part. We developed the broad-range 4 MeV to over 10 MeV energy-regulated X-band and S-band systems for medical and NDT applications. The regulated pulse length systems operating in a range from nanoseconds to microseconds have been built both in X-band and in S-band frequency range.