The electron accelerator SIRIUS at the Laboratory of Irradiated Solids

A new electron accelerator has replaced the Van de Graaff accelerator that has been operating since 1975 at the Polytechnique Graduate School (Palaiseau - France). This new accelerator is a Pelletron type accelerator named SIRIUS and it can provide very various irradiation conditions and it benefits from a broad range of in situ examination methods such as optical, electrical and electrochemical. SIRIUS can provide a broad range of current intensities from a few nA to 50 μA with electrons whose kinetic energy is between 150 keV and 2.5 MeV. The irradiated surface can vary from a few μm2 to a few tens of cm2. It is also possible to irradiate targets at low temperature 20 K with high current. Today's research programs include the study of the impact of a unique chock between an electron and an atom in order to measure the threshold energy of atomic displacement or the study of the impact of controlled defects introduced in the matter through electron irradiation or the study of the impact of the changes introduced in isolators through electron irradiation. (A.C.)