Ferroelectric based single source of multiple types of radiation enabling multifunctional NDT and analytical instruments

The use of nondestructive testing (NDT) techniques to examine planetary samples for the presence of water, biomarkers and minerals supports N AS A objectives for future exploration missions. Determination of the surface and bulk properties of select samples currently requires multiple instruments, each with an independent type of radiation source. Using a multitude of instruments may require high power, mass and volume. Recently, the authors demonstrated a ferroelectric based radiation source, called Ferrosource, that was shown to emit five radiation types enabling a new generation of compact, low power, low mass multifunctional NDT analytical instruments. The emitted radiation types include visible light, ultraviolet, X-ray, as well as electron and ion beams. These radiation types are already under development for detecting water, performing mineralogical/chemical analysis and for identifying biological markers. This ferroelectric based source consists of a disk having a continuous ground electrode on one side and a grid shaped cathode on the other side. This source is placed in a vacuum tube and is used to generate plasma by switching high voltage pulses; the plasma is harnessed to generate the radiation. A series of experiments was performed to demonstrate the emission of the five radiation types and the results are described and discussed herein. radiation source, multifunctional instruments, Ferrosource, ferroelectric radiation emitter.