“Reliability of a High Power Electron-Beam Accelerator: A Federal Case”

Reliability Society

“Reliability of a High-Power Electron-Beam Accelerator: A Federal Case”

Daniel J. Weidman Ph.D. – MIT Lincoln Labs

PRESENTATION: High-power electron-beam (e-beam) accelerator facilities process many types of products for many applications, such as sterilizing medical supplies, changing the color of semi-precious gemstones, and recycling Teflon insulation from wires. Maintenance of an e-beam accelerator requires a full-time effort. First I will provide a basic introduction to e-beam accelerator physics, engineering, and applications. Then I will describe my experience as an expert witness in a case in which the reliability and maintenance of an e-beam accelerator was the subject of a lawsuit in Federal court.

AUTHOR BIO: Daniel J. Weidman, Ph.D. – Dan received his Bachelor’s degree in Physics from MIT in 1985, and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the Univ. of Maryland, College Park. He has authored or co-authored more than 20 journal articles and technical reports in publications and more than 60 conference presentations. He started working with electron beams more than 30 years ago, as an undergraduate studying free-electron lasers and, as a grad student, e-beam propagation through air.

Experience in e-beams:

• Food preservation, water remediation, and platelet shelf-life extension at Science Research Laboratory as a Senior Research Scientist
• Building and testing composite-curing e-beam systems at Electron Solutions, Inc. and then installing them at NASA MSFC and Boeing Radiation Effects Laboratory
• Scanning electron microscopes at KLA-Tencor, as a Systems Design Engineer
• Metallization of semiconductor wafers by physical vapor deposition at NEXX Systems, Reliability Engineer
• e-beam emitter design and manufacturing at Advanced Electron Beams, as the Principal Process Engineer

Dr. Weidman has since been working at MIT Lincoln Laboratory as a member of the Technical Staff.

Registration – click here

Directions to 3 Forbes Road, Lexington, MA:

• Take Route 128/I-95 to Exit 30B, Route 2A Westbound.
• At the first traffic light, turn left onto Forbes Road.
• Go to the end of the street.
• At the traffic circle, turn right.
• Go halfway around the traffic circle and turn into the parking lot for MIT Lincoln Laboratory
• The main entrance is straight ahead, shared with “agenus”.