Dr Andrey Oleinik (Royal Holloway)

The possibility of generating x-rays, electrons, positive ions and neutrons during the change in the temperature of materials exhibiting a pyroelectric effect has been actively investigated in the last two decades. This phenomenon becomes possible because the charge can be accumulated on the surface of the pyroelectric sample. That charge becomes a source of the high electric field, and several mechanisms lead to particle generation and acceleration. The pyroelectric accelerators based on the pyroelectric effect are very promising for numerous applications with low power consumption. The main advantages of such devices are their compactness, lack of high voltage devices and radioactive materials. However, the stability of particle generation should be improved for practical purposes.
This talk explains the main phenomena that make it possible to generate and accelerate particles using pyroelectric materials and describes the unique properties of the generated particle streams. The state-of-art of pyroelectric accelerators will be discussed, as well as the main problems and challenges. The latest results of the development of pyroelectric accelerators in the RHUL will also be presented.