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Cross Section of the High-Voltage Insulator Joint

The approach is to build a high voltage insulator consisting of two materials:  Poly-Ether-Ether-Ketone (“PEEK”) and Machinable Ceramic (“MACOR”).  PEEK has a high stress tolerance but cannot withstand high temperatures, while MACOR has high heat tolerance but is difficult to machine and can be brittle.  MACOR is used for the plasma-facing surface, while PEEK will handle the…

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An artist’s concept rendering of a 3.5-meter linear induction accelerator (LIA) with four lines-of-sight toward a patient. The blue elements magnetically focus and direct the LIA’s electron beams.

LLNL’s approach is to use their patented Photoconductive Charge Trapping Apparatus (U.S. Patent No. 11,366,401) as the active switch needed to discharge voltage across a vacuum gap in a particle accelerator, like the one described in their other patent (U.S. Patent No.

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3D MEA device prior to actuation. A) A completed device. B) Close-up image of a single cell culture well. The large dark metal features at the top and bottom of each cell culture well are ground electrodes, which are all electrically shorted to each other. C) Light micrograph of a single 3DMEA post-actuation. The hinge regions are plastically deformed and allow the probes to stand upright without additional supports.

To replicate the physiology and functionality of tissues and organs, LLNL has developed an in vitro device that contains 3D MEAs made from flexible polymeric probes with multiple electrodes along the body of each probe. At the end of each probe body is a specially designed hinge that allows the probe to transition from lying flat to a more upright position when actuated and then…