What kind of ion cannon were invented by Ukrainian scientists. Electron and ion guns
The invention relates to a technique for producing pulsed high-power ion beams. The ion gun makes it possible to obtain beams with a high ion current density on an external target. The gun cathode is made in the form of a coil with holes for ion beam output. Inside the cathode there is an anode with rounded ends and plasma-forming areas opposite the holes in the cathode. The surfaces of the anode and cathode on the side of the ion beam output are made in the form of a part of coaxial cylindrical surfaces. The cathode is made of two plates. The cathode plate, which has holes for beam output, is connected to the body at both ends by means of pin combs. The second cathode plate is connected at both ends to the terminals of two current sources of different polarities, also through pin combs opposite the pin combs of the first plate. The second terminals of the current sources are connected to the gun body, and the distance between adjacent pins in the pin combs is chosen to be smaller than the anode-cathode gap. This design of the ion gun makes it possible to significantly weaken the transverse magnetic field in the sunset space and obtain a ballistically converging powerful ion beam. 2 ill.
The invention relates to accelerator technology and can be used to generate powerful ion beams. Practical use high-power ion beams for technological purposes often require achieving the maximum possible density of the ion beam on the target surface. Such beams are necessary when removing coatings and cleaning the surface of parts from carbon deposits, applying films of target material, etc. In this case, it is necessary to ensure a long service life of the ion gun and stability of the parameters of the generated beam. A device is known designed to produce an axis-focused powerful ion beam (AS N 816316 “Ion gun for pumping lasers” Bystritsky V.M., Krasik Ya.E., Matvienko V.M. et al. “Magnetically isolated diode with B field", Plasma Physics, 1982, vol. 8, v. 5, pp. 915-917). This device consists of a cylindrical cathode, which has longitudinal slots along its generatrix and is designed to output the ion beam into the intracathode space. A current source is connected to the ends of the cathode, made in the form of a squirrel wheel, creating an insulating magnetic field. A cylindrical anode having a plasma-forming coating on its inner surface is located coaxially with the cathode. When the current source is triggered and a positive high-voltage pulse arrives at the anode, the ions formed from the anode coating material are accelerated in the anode-cathode gap and are ballistically fixed to the axis of the system. A high degree of focusing is achieved due to the absence of a transverse magnetic field in the sunset space and the propagation of the ion beam under conditions close to force-free drift. The disadvantage of this device is the impossibility of obtaining a focused ion beam emerging from the gun to irradiate targets located outside it. The device closest to the proposed one in terms of a. With. N 1102474 "Ion cannon" was chosen as the prototype. This ion gun contains a cathode made in the form of an open flat coil with holes for exiting the ion beam and a flat anode located inside the cathode and having roundings at its ends. On the anode, opposite the holes in the cathode, there are plasma-forming sections. A current source is connected to the open ends of the cathode, and between these same ends of the cathode there is a thin conducting screen made in the form of a half-cylinder and having electrical contact with both ends of the cathode. This thin screen sets the cylindrical geometry of the electric field distribution in this section of the ion gun, which reduces the local loss of electrons to the anode in this place. The low mechanical strength of the thin screen is a disadvantage of this device, which reduces the resource of continuous operation of the ion gun. A simple increase in the thickness of the screen is impossible, since in this case the screen begins to significantly shunt the current source and significantly distort the distribution of the magnetic field near itself. When the current source is triggered, an insulating transverse magnetic field for the electron flow is created in the anode-cathode gap. The ions cross the accelerating gap with only a slight deviation from the straight trajectory. Having passed through the cathode holes, the ion beam is neutralized by cold electrons drawn from the cathode walls. When leaving the cathode holes, the charge-neutralized beam begins to propagate in the region where a transverse magnetic field exists. The ion gun uses a fast magnetic field (tens of microseconds) and massive electrodes, “opaque” to such fields, which simplifies the geometric adjustment of the system and magnetic insulation (V.M. Bystritsky, A.N. Didenko “Powerful ion beams.” - M .: Energoatomizdat. 1984, pp. 57-58). Since the magnetic field lines are closed and cover the cathode without penetrating into the massive electrodes, the ion beam, when moving from the cathode slots to the grounded body (or target connected to it), crosses a magnetic flux that is close in magnitude to the flow in the anode-cathode gap. The presence of a transverse magnetic field in the cascade space sharply worsens transportation conditions, and the divergence angles of the ion beam reach 10 o in the cascade space. Thus, the task of creating an ion gun designed to produce a focused ion beam on an external target with high reliability and a long service life remains relevant. To solve this problem, the ion gun, like the prototype, contains a housing in which there is a cathode in the form of a coil with holes for ion beam output, an anode with rounded ends, located inside the cathode and having plasma-forming sections opposite the cathode holes. The open ends of the cathode are connected to a current source. On the side of the ion beam output, the surfaces of the anode and cathode are made in the form of a part of coaxial cylindrical surfaces. Unlike the prototype, the ion gun contains a second current source, and the cathode coil is made of two plates. In this case, the first cathode plate with holes for outputting the ion beam at both ends is connected to the ion gun body by means of pin combs. The second cathode plate, also through pin combs opposite the pin combs of the first plate, is connected at both ends to the terminals of two current sources of different polarities. The second terminals of the current sources are connected to the housing. This design of the cathode makes it possible to separate the region of the anode-cathode gap, where there is a fast insulating magnetic field, from the region of the ion beam drift, where there should be no transverse magnetic field. In this design, a cathode plate with holes for outputting a powerful ion beam is a kind of magnetic screen for a fast field. In fig. 1 shows the proposed ion gun. The device contains a cathode made in the form of two plates 1 and 2. Plate 1 has holes 3 for beam output and is connected on both sides to the ion gun body 4 by means of two pin combs 5. The second cathode plate 2 is connected to the terminals of two oppositely polarized current sources 6 by means of pin combs 7 counter-directed to the combs 5. The second terminals of the current sources 6 are connected to the body of the ion gun 4. The surface of the cathode plate 1 is curved in the form of a part of a cylindrical surface so that the cylinder axis is located in the region 8. Inside the composite cathode coil there is a flat anode 9, which has roundings at its ends and a plasma-forming coating 10, located opposite the holes 3 in the plate 1. The anode 10 is also curved in the form of a part of a cylindrical surface and has a common axis with the cathode, which in this case is the focus 8 of the system . In fig. Figure 2 shows the design of counter pin combs 5 and 7 connecting the cathode plates 1 and 2 with the housing 4 and current sources 6. The device operates as follows. Multi-polar current sources 6 are switched on, the terminals of which are connected to the gun body 4 and plate 2 through pin combs 7. Along the circuit - body 4, first current source 6, pin comb 7, cathode plate 2, second pin comb 7, second current source 6, housing 4 - current flows, creating an insulating field in the anode-cathode gap. The magnetic field created by the current flowing through the cathode plate 2 is limited by the cathode plate 1, connected at both ends to the body of the ion gun 4 by means of pin combs 5, counter-directed to the combs 7. In this case, the cathode plate 1 is a screen for the fast field, which does not penetrate into the post-anode region located from the slits 3 to the focal spot 8. In this case, an induced current flows along the surface of the electrode 1 facing the anode, the surface density of which is close to the surface current density along the plate 2, and in the region of counter-directional pin combs 5 and 7, the distance between adjacent pins of which is chosen to be less than the anode-cathode gap, creates a magnetic field close to the field in the area where the output holes 3 are located. The symmetry of the ion gun circuit leads to the fact that in the region of transport of the ion beam from slits 3 to the focal spot 8 there are only weak scattered fields compared to the magnetic fields in the anode-cathode gap. At the moment of maximum magnetic field in the anode-cathode gap, a pulse of positive polarity is supplied to anode 9 from a high-voltage pulse generator (not shown in the drawing). The dense plasma formed on the plasma-forming areas 10 of the anode surface serves as a source of accelerated ions. Ions, accelerating in the anode-cathode gap, pass through holes 3 in the cathode and are transported in the back-cathode space to the focal spot region 8. Compared to the prototype, where the magnitude of the transverse magnetic field near the cathode behind the slits reaches 40% of the field amplitude in the anode-cathode gap, in this device the residual field can be easily reduced to a fraction of a percent. In this case, a nearly force-free drift of the ion beam toward the target is realized. Since the surfaces of the anode 9 and cathode 1 on the side of the ion beam output have a cylindrical geometry, the ions emerging from the slits 3 will be ballistically focused onto axis 8. The degree of focusing will be mainly limited by beam aberrations at the cathode slits and the temperature of the anode plasma. Compared to the prototype, the achievable density of the ion beam on the target increases several times with the same parameters of the high-voltage generator.
CLAIM
An ion gun containing a cathode located in a housing, made in the form of a coil, connected to a current source and having holes for beam output, an anode with rounded ends located inside the cathode and having plasma-forming sections opposite the cathode holes, and the surfaces of the anode and cathode on the output side ion beam are bent in the form of a part of coaxial cylindrical surfaces, characterized in that it contains a second current source, the cathode coil is made up of two plates, while the cathode plate, which has holes for outputting the ion beam, is connected at both ends to the ion gun body by means of pins comb, and the second cathode plate is connected to the terminals of two current sources of different polarity through pin combs opposite the pin combs of the first plate, the second terminals of the current sources are connected to the gun body.Beam weapons - how real are they?
Beam gun reloading chamber.
("Cruise missiles in naval combat" by B.I. Rodionov, N.N. Novikov, published by Voenizdat, 1987.)
Beam weapon
So we got to the notorious ion cannon. However, a beam of charged particles is not
necessarily ions. These can be electrons, protons and even mesons. You can overclock and
neutral atoms or molecules.
The essence of the method is that charged particles with rest mass are accelerated into
linear accelerator to relativistic (on the order of the speed of light) speeds and turn into
unique “bullets” with high penetrating power.
Note: the first attempts to adopt beam weapon date back to 1994.
The US Navy Research Laboratory conducted a series of tests that revealed
that a beam of charged particles is capable of breaking through a conducting channel in the atmosphere without any special
losses spread in it over a distance of several kilometers. It was assumed
use beam weapons to combat homing anti-ship missiles.
With a “shot” energy of 10 kJ, the target guidance electronics were damaged, an impulse of 100 kJ
undermined the warhead, and 1 MJ led to mechanical destruction of the rocket. However
the improvement of other methods of combating anti-ship missiles has made them
cheaper and more reliable, so beam weapons did not take root in the navy.
But researchers working within the framework of SDI paid close attention to it.
However, the very first experiments in vacuum showed that a directed beam of charged particles
impossible to make parallel. The reason is electrostatic repulsion of the same
charges and curvature of the trajectory in the Earth's magnetic field (in this case, precisely the Lorentz force).
For orbital space weapons this was unacceptable, since we were talking about the transfer
energy over thousands of kilometers with high accuracy.
The developers took a different path. Charged particles (ions) were accelerated in the accelerator, and
then in a special recharging chamber they became neutral atoms, but the speed
At the same time, there was practically no loss. A beam of neutral atoms can propagate arbitrarily
far away, moving almost parallel.
There are several factors of damage to a beam of atoms. Used as accelerated particles
protons (hydrogen nuclei) or deuterons (deuterium nuclei). In the reload chamber they become
hydrogen or deuterium atoms flying at speeds of tens of thousands of kilometers per second.
Upon hitting the target, the atoms are easily ionized, losing a single electron, while the depth
particle penetration increases tens and even hundreds of times. As a result, it happens
thermal destruction of metal.
In addition, when beam particles are decelerated in the metal, the so-called “bremsstrahlung” will arise.
radiation" propagating along the direction of the beam. These are x-ray quanta of hard
range and x-ray quanta.
As a result, even if the hull plating is not penetrated by the ion beam, bremsstrahlung
will most likely destroy the crew and damage the electronics.
Also, under the influence of a beam of high-energy particles, vortex formations will be induced in the casing.
currents that generate an electromagnetic pulse.
Thus, beam weapons have three damaging factors: mechanical
destruction, directed gamma radiation and electromagnetic pulse.
However, the “ion cannon” described in science fiction and featured in many computer games
games is a myth. In no case will such a weapon in orbit be able to
penetrate the atmosphere and hit any target on the surface of the planet. As well
its inhabitants can be bombarded with files of newspapers or rolls of toilet paper. Well, maybe
the planet is devoid of an atmosphere, and its inhabitants, who do not need to breathe, walk freely along the city streets.
The main purpose of beam weapons is combat units rockets in the exoatmospheric section, shuttle
ships and aerospace aircraft of the Spiral class.
BEAM WEAPON
The damaging factor of a beam weapon is a highly directed beam of charged or
neutral particles of high energy - electrons, protons, neutral hydrogen atoms.
The powerful flow of energy carried by the particles can create intense
thermal effects, mechanical shock loads, initiate x-ray radiation.
The use of beam weapons is distinguished by the instantaneousness and suddenness of the damaging effect.
The limiting factor in the range of this weapon is gas particles,
located in the atmosphere, with the atoms of which accelerated particles interact, gradually
losing your energy.
The most likely objects of destruction by beam weapons may be manpower,
electronic equipment, various weapons systems and military equipment: ballistic and
cruise missiles, airplanes, spacecraft, etc. Work on the creation of beam weapons
gained its greatest momentum shortly after the proclamation of US President Ronald Reagan
SOI programs.
The Los Alamos National Laboratory became the center for scientific research in this area.
Experiments at that time were carried out at the ATS accelerator, then at more powerful accelerators.
At the same time, experts believe that such particle accelerators will be a reliable means
selection of attacking warheads of enemy missiles against the background of a “cloud” of false targets. Research
Electron-based beam weapons are also being developed at the Livermore National Laboratory.
According to some scientists, successful attempts were made there to obtain a flow
high-energy electrons, the power hundreds of times greater than that obtained in
research accelerators.
In the same laboratory, as part of the Antigone program, it was experimentally established that
that the electron beam propagates almost perfectly, without scattering, along the ionized
channel previously created by a laser beam in the atmosphere. Beam weapon installations have
large mass-dimensional characteristics and therefore can be created as stationary or
on special mobile equipment with heavy lifting capacity.
PS: by chance in a well-known community science_freaks
a dispute ensued about reality
beam weapon systems, and opponents increasingly advocated its unreality.
Having rummaged through sources open to the entire Internet, I dug up a lot of information, some of which I cited
higher. I’m interested in who can say what reasonably based on the presence of existing ones and prospects
development of new weapons systems classified as beam weapons?
Military developed countries They are constantly looking for fundamentally new types of weapons in order to have a tactical and strategic advantage. At one time, one of the promising types strategic weapons there was a so-called ion cannon, which uses ions or neutral atoms instead of projectiles.
In fantasy works similar weapons called blasters, disintegrators and a bunch of other names. In principle, modern technologies make it possible to create such weapons in metal, however, there are a number of restrictions that do not allow the use of these weapons even for strategic purposes.
The history of the ion cannon began in the USA, when the overseas military began to look for new ways to neutralize Soviet missiles with multiple warheads. When a flying missile warhead was irradiated with ions, interference occurred due to failures in semiconductor devices, and eddy currents created interference in the actuators. If a conventional unit had practically no control electronics, then when irradiated it continued to fly along the same trajectory. And when the warhead was irradiated, the rocket should have begun to scour from side to side. Thus, the ion cannon was supposed to help quickly distinguish warheads from imitations.
Research on this type of weapon began in Los Alamos, where the first atomic bomb. After some time, the first results appeared. It turned out that a particle beam or laser beam with a power of ten thousand joules easily disoriented the rocket's navigation unit. A beam with a power of one hundred thousand joules can cause the detonation of an incoming missile's warhead due to electrostatic induction, but a beam with a million joules simply damaged all the electronics of the missile so much that it ceased to function.
During the technical implementation of the ion gun, a number of technical difficulties arose. The first problem was that similarly charged ions simply could not fly in a dense beam due to the fact that they repelled each other and instead of a dense and powerful pulse, the result was a scattered and very weak one. The second problem was that the ions interacted with atoms in the atmosphere, lost energy and were scattered. Another technical difficulty was that the beam of charged particles simply deviated from a straight trajectory due to interaction with the magnetic field.
These technical difficulties were overcome with interesting technical solutions. In front of the main particle beam, a powerful laser pulse was emitted, which ionized the air in its path and created a vacuum, so necessary for the movement of the particle beam. A change was made directly to the design of the particle accelerator; an additional chamber was installed, where the accelerated ions were combined with electrons and emitted by neutral atoms. Neutral atoms did not interact with the Earth's magnetic field and moved rectilinearly in the ionized channel.
Another problem that stands in the way of the developers of such weapons cannot be solved even with the help of the most modern technologies. This problem lies in the fact that there is no compact and very powerful energy source capable of ensuring the functioning of such weapons. A separate power plant must be built next to such an ion cannon, which is completely unacceptable due to high costs and unmasking.
Science fiction films give us a clear idea of the arsenals of the future - these are various blasters, lightsabers, infrasonic weapons and ion cannons. Meanwhile modern armies, like three hundred years ago, you mainly have to rely on bullets and gunpowder. Will there be a breakthrough in military affairs in the near future, should we expect the appearance of weapons that operate on new physical principles?
Story
Work on the creation of such systems is being carried out in laboratories around the world, however, special successes Scientists and engineers cannot boast yet. Military experts believe that they will be able to take part in real combat operations no earlier than in several decades.
Among the most promising systems, authors often mention ion cannons or beam weapons. Its operating principle is simple: the kinetic energy of electrons, protons, ions or neutral atoms accelerated to enormous speeds is used to destroy objects. In essence, this system is a particle accelerator put into military service.
Beam weapons are a real creation of the Cold War, which, along with combat lasers and interceptor missiles, were intended to destroy Soviet warheads in space. The creation of ion cannons was carried out as part of the famous Reagan Star Wars program. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, such developments ceased, however, today interest in this topic is returning.
A little theory
The essence of how beam weapons work is that particles are accelerated in an accelerator to enormous speeds and turned into unique miniature “projectiles” with colossal penetrating ability.
Objects are damaged due to:
- electromagnetic pulse;
- exposure to hard radiation;
- mechanical destruction.
Powerful energy flow, which the particles carry, has a strong thermal effect on materials and structure. It can create significant mechanical loads in them and disrupt the molecular structure of living tissue. It is assumed that beam weapons will be capable of destroying hulls aircraft, disable their electronics, remotely detonate a warhead, and even melt the nuclear “filling” of strategic missiles.
To increase the destructive effect, it is proposed to deliver not single blows, but whole series of pulses with high frequency. A serious advantage of beam weapons is their speed, which is due to the enormous speed of the emitted particles. To destroy objects at a considerable distance, an ion cannon requires a powerful energy source such as a nuclear reactor.
One of the main disadvantages of beam weapons is the limitation of their action in the earth's atmosphere. Particles interact with gas atoms, losing their energy. It is assumed that in such conditions the range of destruction of the ion cannon will not exceed several tens of kilometers, so for now there is no talk of shelling targets on the Earth’s surface from orbit.
A solution to this problem may be to use a rarefied air channel through which charged particles will move without loss of energy. However, all these are just theoretical calculations that no one has tested in practice.
Currently, the most promising area of application of beam weapons is considered to be missile defense and the destruction of enemy spacecraft. Moreover, for orbital impact systems The most interesting is the use not of charged particles, but of neutral atoms, which are preliminarily accelerated in the form of ions. Typically, hydrogen nuclei or its isotope, deuterium, are used. In the recharging chamber they are converted into neutral atoms. When they hit a target, they are easily ionized, and the depth of penetration into the material increases many times over.
Creation of combat systems operating within earth's atmosphere, still looks unlikely. The Americans considered beam weapons as a possible means of destruction anti-ship missiles, but later this idea was abandoned.
How the ion cannon was created
The emergence of nuclear weapons led to an unprecedented arms race between the Soviet Union and the United States. Already by the mid-60s, the number of nuclear charges in the arsenals of superpowers amounted to tens of thousands, and intercontinental weapons became the main means of their delivery. ballistic missiles. A further increase in their number made no practical sense. To get an advantage in this death race, the rivals had to figure out how to protect their own facilities from missile strike enemy. This is how the concept of missile defense emerged.
March 23, 1983 American President Ronald Reagan announced the launch of the Strategic Defense Initiative. Its goal was to be guaranteed protection of US territory from a Soviet missile strike, and its implementation tool was to gain complete dominance in space.
Most of the elements of this system were planned to be placed in orbit. A significant part of them were most powerful weapon, developed on new physical principles. To destroy Soviet missiles and warheads, they intended to use nuclear-pumped lasers, atomic grapeshot, conventional chemical lasers, railguns, as well as beam weapons installed on heavy orbital stations.
It must be said that the study of the damaging effects of high-energy protons, ions or neutral particles began even earlier - approximately in the mid-70s.
Initially, work in this direction was more of a preventive nature - American intelligence reported that similar experiments were actively being conducted in the Soviet Union. It was believed that the USSR had advanced much further in this matter, and could implement the concept of beam weapons in practice. American engineers and scientists themselves did not really believe in the possibility of creating guns that shoot particles.
Work in the field of creating beam weapons was supervised by the famous DARPA - the Pentagon's Advanced Research Projects Agency.
They were carried out in two main directions:
- Creation of ground-based strike installations designed to destroy enemy missiles (missile defense) and aircraft (air defense) within the atmosphere. The customer for these studies was the American army. To test the prototypes, a test site with a particle accelerator was built;
- Development of space-based combat installations placed on Shuttle-type spacecraft to destroy objects in orbit. The plan was to create several prototype weapons and then test them in space, destroying one or more old satellites.
It is curious that in terrestrial conditions it was planned to use charged particles, and in orbit to shoot a beam of neutral hydrogen atoms.
The possibility of “space” use of beam weapons aroused genuine interest among the management of the SDI program. Several research studies have been carried out that have confirmed the theoretical ability of such installations to solve missile defense problems.
Project "Antigone"
It turned out that using a beam of charged particles is associated with certain difficulties. After leaving the installation, due to the action of Coulomb forces, they begin to repel each other, resulting in not one powerful shot, but many weakened impulses. In addition, the trajectories of charged particles are bent under the influence of the earth's magnetic field. These problems were solved by adding a so-called recharging chamber to the design, which was located after the upper stage. In it, the ions turned into neutral atoms, and subsequently no longer influenced each other.
The project to create beam weapons was withdrawn from the Star Wars program and received its own name - “Antigone”. This was probably done in order to preserve the developments even after the closure of the SDI, the provocative nature of which did not raise any particular doubts among the army leadership.
The overall project management was carried out by US Air Force specialists. Work on creating an orbital beam cannon proceeded quite briskly; several suborbital rockets with prototype accelerators were even launched. However, this idyll did not last long. In the mid-80s, new political winds blew: a period of detente began between the USSR and the USA. And when the developers approached the stage of creating experimental prototypes, Soviet Union ordered to live long, and further work on missile defense lost all meaning.
At the end of the 80s, Antigonus was transferred to the naval department, and the reasons this decision remained unknown. Around 1993, the first preliminary designs for ship-based missile defense based on beam weapons were created. But when it became clear that enormous energy was needed to destroy air targets, the sailors quickly lost interest in such exoticism. Apparently, they didn’t really like the prospect of carrying additional barges with power plants behind the ships. And the cost of such installations clearly did not add to the enthusiasm.
Beam installations for Star Wars
It is curious how exactly they planned to use beam weapons in outer space. The main emphasis was placed on the radiation effect of a particle beam during sharp deceleration in the material of the object. It was believed that the resulting radiation was capable of guaranteed damage to the electronics of missiles and warheads. Physical destruction of targets was also considered possible, but it required a longer duration and power of impact. The developers proceeded from calculations that beam weapons in space are effective at distances of several thousand kilometers.
In addition to destroying electronics and physically destroying warheads, they wanted to use beam weapons to identify targets. The fact is that when entering orbit, the rocket launches dozens and hundreds of false targets, which on radar screens are no different from real warheads. If you irradiate such a cluster of objects with a particle beam of even low power, then by the emission you can determine which of the targets are false and which should be opened fire on.
Is it possible to create an ion cannon?
Theoretically, it is quite possible to create a beam weapon: the processes occurring in such installations have long been well known to physicists. Another thing is to create a prototype of such a device, suitable for real use on the battlefield. It is not for nothing that even the developers of the Star Wars program assumed the appearance of ion cannons no earlier than 2025.
The main problem of implementation is the energy source, which, on the one hand, must be quite powerful, on the other, have more or less reasonable dimensions and not cost too much. The above is especially relevant for systems designed to operate in space.
Until we have powerful and compact reactors, beam missile defense projects, like combat space lasers, are best shelved.
The prospects for ground or air use of beam weapons seem even less likely. The reason is the same - you cannot install a power plant on an airplane or tank. In addition, when using such installations in the atmosphere, it will be necessary to compensate for losses associated with the absorption of energy by air gases.
Materials often appear in the domestic media about the creation of Russian beam weapons, which supposedly have monstrous destructive power. Naturally, such developments are top secret, so they are not shown to anyone. As a rule, these are regular pseudo-scientific nonsense such as torsion radiation or psychotropic weapons.
It is possible that research in this area is still underway, but until fundamental questions are resolved, there is no hope for a breakthrough.
If you have any questions, leave them in the comments below the article. We or our visitors will be happy to answer them
Some ion gun particles have potential practical applications, such as anti-missile system defense or protection from meteorites. However, the vast majority of concepts for these weapons come from the world of science fiction, where these types of guns are present in great abundance. They are known by many names: phasers, particle cannons, ion cannons, proton beam cannons, ray guns, etc.
Concept
The concept of partial beam weapons comes from sound scientific principles and experiments currently being conducted around the world. One effective process for damaging or destroying a target is to simply overheat until it instantly disappears. However, after decades of research and development, partial beam weapons are still in the research stage, and we have yet to test in practice whether such guns can be used as an effective weapon. Many people dream of assembling an ion cannon with their own hands and testing its properties in practice.
Particle accelerators
Particle accelerators are a well-developed technology used in scientific research for decades. They use electromagnetic fields to accelerate and direct charged particles along a predetermined path, and electrostatic “lenses” focus these flows into collisions. Cathode ray tube in many 20th century televisions and computer monitors- a very simple type of particle accelerator. More powerful versions include synchrotrons and cyclotrons, used in nuclear research. Electron beam weapons are an advanced version of this technology. It accelerates charged particles (in most cases electrons, positrons, protons or ionized atoms, but very advanced versions can accelerate other particles such as mercury nuclei) to almost the speed of light and then fires them at a target. These particles have enormous kinetic energy, with which they charge matter on the surface of the target, causing almost instantaneous and catastrophic overheating. This, in essence, is the basic principle of operation of the ion cannon.
Physical Features
The main capabilities of the ion cannon still boil down to instant and painless destruction of the target. Charged particle beams diverge quickly due to mutual repulsion, so neutral particle beams are most often proposed. Neutral particle beam weapons ionize atoms by stripping an electron from each atom or by allowing each atom to capture an additional electron. The charged particles are then accelerated and neutralized again by adding or removing electrons.
Cyclotron particle accelerators, linear particle accelerators, and synchrotron particle accelerators can accelerate positively charged hydrogen ions until their speed approaches the speed of light, and each individual ion has a kinetic energy of 100 MeV to 1000 MeV or more. The resulting high-energy protons can then capture electrons from those of the emitter electrodes and thus be electrically neutralized. This creates an electrically neutral, high-energy beam of hydrogen atoms that can flow in a straight line near the speed of light to smash and damage its target.
Breaking speed limits
The pulsating particle beam emitted by such a weapon can contain 1 gigajoule of kinetic energy or more. The beam's speed approaching the speed of light (299,792,458 m/s in a vacuum) combined with the energy created by the weapon negates any realistic means of protecting the target from the beam. Target hardening by shielding or selection of materials would be impractical or ineffective, especially if the beam could be maintained at full power and precisely focused on the target.
In the US Army
The US Defense Strategy Initiative has invested in the development of neutral particle beam technology for use as a weapon in outer space. Neutral beam accelerator technology was developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory. A prototype neutral hydrogen beam weapon was launched aboard a suborbital sounding rocket from the White Sands Missile in July 1989 as part of the Beam Experiments Aboard Rocket (BEAR) project. It reached a maximum altitude of 124 miles and operated successfully in space for 4 minutes before returning to Earth. In 2006, the recovered experimental device was moved from Los Alamos to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. However full story The development of the ion cannon is hidden from the general public. Who knows what other weapons the Americans acquired over the years? Lately. The wars of the future may greatly surprise us.
In the Star Wars universe
IN " Star Wars"Ion air cannons are a form of weaponry whose ionized particles, capable of disrupting electronic systems, can even disable a large capital ship. During the Battle of Sikka Island, continued fire from these cannons from multiple ships caused significant damage to the hull of at least one light cruiser Arquitens class.
The Eta-2 class Light Interceptor used similar cannons that spewed plasma, which could cause temporary electrical failures in the mechanism upon impact.
Y-wing fighters were also equipped with these cannons, primarily those used by the Alliance's Gold Squadron. Although their field of fire was somewhat limited, the ion cannons were powerful enough that three explosions were enough to disable an Arquitens command cruiser, but only one to completely disable a TIE/D Defender fighter. This was demonstrated during the shootout in the Archaeon Nebula.
At the beginning of the Clone Wars, she equipped the massive heavy cruiser Sujugator with huge ion cannons. Under the command of General Grievous, the cruiser attacked dozens of Republic warships and gave them a taste of the destructive power of ion weapons. After the Battle of Abregado, the Republic learned of them.
The Fury's ion cannons were disabled by Republic Shadow Squadron during a battle near the Kaliida Nebula. The giant cruiser was later destroyed when Jedi General Anakin Skywalker captured the ship from within and forced it to crash into the Dead Moon of Antara.
During the early rebellion against the Galactic Empire, Gold Squadron's bombers were equipped with ion cannons. The MC75 cruisers used by the Rebel Alliance were armed with heavy ion mounts.
During the Galactic civil war The Rebel Alliance used a stationary ion cannon to shut down Star Destroyers Death squads during the evacuation of Echo Base.
Program for DDOS
Low Orbit Ion Cannon is an open source network utility and denial of service attack application written in C#. LOIC was originally developed by Praetox Technologies, but was later released for free public use and is now hosted on several open source platforms.
LOIC performs a DoS attack (or, when used by multiple parties, a DDoS attack) on a target site by targeting a server with TCP or UDP packets to disrupt the service of a specific host. People used LOIC to join voluntary botnets.
Software inspired a standalone version of JavaScript called JS LOIC, as well as a web version of LOIC called Low Orbit Web Cannon. It allows you to perform a DoS attack directly from your web browser.
Method of protection
Security experts quoted by the BBC indicated that well-designed firewall settings can filter out most traffic from DDoS attacks through LOIC, thereby preventing the full effectiveness of these same attacks. In at least one case, filtering all UDP and ICMP traffic blocked the LOIC attack. Because Internet service providers provide less bandwidth to each of their clients in order to provide guaranteed levels of service to all of their clients at the same time, these types of firewall rules are more effective if they are implemented at a point upstream of the application server's Internet uplink . In other words, it is easy to force a service provider to refuse traffic intended for a client by sending more traffic than it is allowed to, and any filtering that occurs on the client side after the traffic passes that link cannot prevent the service provider from refusing excess traffic. intended for this user. This is how the attack is carried out.
LOIC attacks are easily identified in system logs, and the attack can be traced back to the IP addresses used.
The main weapon of anonymous
LOIC was used by Anonymous during Project Chanology to attack Church of Scientology websites, and then successfully attacked the Recording Industry Association of America website in October 2010. The application was then used again by Anonymous during their Operation Occupy in December 2010 to attack the websites of companies and organizations that opposed WikiLeaks.
In response to the closure of the file-sharing service Megaupload and the arrest of four employees, members of the Anonymous group launched DDoS attacks on the websites of Universal Music Group (the company responsible for the lawsuit against Megaupload), the United States Department of Justice, and the United States Copyright Office , Federal Bureau of Investigation, MPAA, Warner Music Group and RIAA, as well as HADOPI, on the afternoon of January 19, 2012 - through the same “gun” that allows attacks on any server.
The LOIC app is named after the ion cannon, a fictional weapon from many science fiction works, video games, and in particular the series Command games& Conquer. It's hard to name a game that doesn't have a weapon with that name. For example, in the game Stellaris, the ion cannon plays an important role, despite the fact that this game is an economic strategy, albeit with a space setting.
