Compact, high‐current accelerators and their prospective applications

This paper briefly surveys the three compact, high‐current accelerators that are presently under development in the United States in support of a national program. In addition, it reports recent experimental results from the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) modified betatron [Phys. Rev. Lett. 64, 2374 (1990)] with emphasis on the electron‐cyclotron resonance that presently limits the energy of the beam to approximately 18 MeV. Finally, it briefly addresses selective existing and prospective applications of accelerators.