Nuclear Physics & Particle Physics
Particle accelerators
Electrostatic Accelerators
Cockcroft and Walton accelerator

Cockcroft and Walton accelerator

The Cockcroft–Walton (CW) generator, or multiplier, is an electric circuit that generates a high DC voltage from a low-voltage AC or pulsing DC input.

The Cockcroft Walton accelerator performed the first nuclear disintegration by artificial means. Cockcroft and Walton accelerated protons up to voltage of 700kV and bombarded them onto a target of lithium producing the reaction:

¹₁P + ⁷₃Li -> ⁴₂He + ⁴₂He

This was the first experiment to show that one element (lithium) could be artificially transformed or transmuted into another element (helium).

The Cockcroft–Walton accelerator is a multiplier. To obtain more than about 200 kV of accelerating voltage, it is necessary to use one or more stages of voltage-doubling circuits. The first such device was built by J. D. Cockcroft and E. T. S. Walton in 1932 and was used for the first transmutation experiments with artificially accelerated particles (protons).

Cockcroft-Walton accelerators are still widely used today, sometimes as injectors to much larger accelerators.