A portable field emission based x-ray generator

A portable field emission based x-ray generator powered by a mini Marx generator has been proposed. Field emission is generated from the cold cathode employing either ultrananocrystalline diamond (UNCD) films or field emission arrays under the pulsed high voltage from the mini Marx generator. Numerical simulations using a conformal finite-difference time-domain particle-in-cell code along with SPICE have been performed for validating the concept. A prototype is under development. To date, a pulsed voltage up to 30 kV was measured from the mini Marx. Details of simulation results and experimental progress will be presented.