Pelletron

Ferry and T. Pauly founded the National Electrostatics Corporation, to manufacture pelletrons as a solution to the problems of ever larger Van de Graaff machines required at that time for particle physic research.

The charge is carried on a chain of 'pellets' (conductive tubes connected by links made of insulating material), that is used to build up high voltages on the Pelletron terminal.

The potential difference between the terminal and ground is used to accelerate several kinds of particles, such as positrons, electrons, and negative and positive ions.

The chain can be charged more uniformly than the belt of a Van de Graaff, so the terminal voltage and therefore particle accelerator energy is more consistent.

Pelletron particle accelerators are used in many fields, including materials analysis, nuclear physics, semiconductor development and production, pharmaceutical research, and in ultra-sensitive mass spectrometers for carbon dating and measurement of other rare isotopes.