Development of the fluorescent materials test chamber

Alabama A&M university and Nichols Research Corporation have recently completed construction and preliminary testing of the fluorescent materials test chamber (FMTC) with its associated vacuum subsystem at the Alabama A&M University Pelletron accelerator laboratory. The FMTC will provide physicists and material scientists with the capability of exposing a variety of samples in a controlled temperature environment to light ion bombardment. Efforts have also been completed toward the design for a low cost beam pulser subsystem for the FMTC. This equipment will allow the measurement of the fluorescent prompt decay time for a wide variety of phosphors. Current design and equipment capabilities allow for prompt fluorescence decay time measurements down to 1 μs. A vacuum tube based grid leak bias Hartley LC oscillator will be used to generate beam pulses with approximately a 2.2% duty cycle at electric field deflection frequencies of 1 and 100 kHz. This technique provides low-cost post-acceleration beam pulsing when compared to more traditional pulsed ion source arrangements.