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Christmas Light
’Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house
No electrons were flowing through even my mouse.
All devices were plugged by the chimney with care
With the hope that St. Nikola Tesla would share.
D. L. Hollis
Nuclear Technology | Volume 10 | Number 3 | March 1971 | Pages 325-327
Technical Paper | Shielding | doi.org/10.13182/NT71-A30966
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A study is made of utilizing electron trapping in dielectrics as a means of reducing bremsstrahlung in spacecrafts at synchronous altitude. Traps retain electrons, and large internal electric fields are induced within the dielectric. Electrons penetrating the insulating material can lose most of their kinetic energy to the electric field with a subsequent decrease in energy loss to bremsstrahlung. This acts to reduce bremsstrahlung production. It also lowers the average radiation energy of that which is produced, with consequent increase in probability of absorption by the wall. Breakdown phenomenon causes the shielding effect of the trapped electrons to be cyclic. A thin layer of dielectric material on the external surface of a spacecraft should provide an effective, light, and inexpensive shield against bremsstrahlung while not interfering with any of the system functions. Electron-trap shielding is applicable not only to space, but wherever a dielectric-charge layer is allowed to accumulate.