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At least 271 records · Page 15

Evaluation of Temporal Diagnostic Techniques for Two-Bunch Facet Beam

Three temporal diagnostic techniques are considered for use in the FACET facility at SLAC, which will incorporate a unique two-bunch beam for plasma wakefield acceleration experiments. The results of these experiments will depend strongly on the the inter-bunch spacing as well as the longitudinal profiles of the two bunches. A reliable, singleshot, high resolution measurement of the beam's temporal profile is necessary to fully quantify the physical mechanisms underlying the beam driven plasma wakefield acceleration. In this study we show that a transverse deflecting cavity is the diagnostic which best meets our criteria. Based on our laboratory testing, numerical calculations, and simulations of the three single-shot temporal diagnostic devices, the X-band TCAV system is the best candidate for resolving FACET's two-bunch beam, with an estimated resolution of 7 {micro}m. Both the S-band TCAV system and the EO system could resolve the peak-to-peak separation of the two bunches in the FACET beam with estimated resolutions of 25 {micro}m and 30 {micro}m, respectively, but would be unable to resolve the temporal profiles of the individual bunches themselves. Because the TCAV signal is more easily interpreted and because the reliability of the EO system is less well known, however, the S-band TCAV system would be the next preferred option after the X-band TCAV system. The Fesca-200 streak camera, though simple, compact, and reliable, is unable to achieve a resolution that would be of use to FACET.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Langmuir turbulence in the auroral ionosphere 2: Nonlinear theory and simulations

A theoretical interpretation of sounding rocket measurements of intense Langmuir wave fields (less than or equal to 500 mV/m) driven by a stream of 20 eV to 4 keV electrons in the lower auroral zone is developed. This interpretation is based on the ability of the 10 microseconds sampling rate of the wave detector to temporally resolve the structure of the Langmuir wave field envelope. A modified form of the Zakharov equations is used to numerically study beam-driven Langmuir turbulence in the presence of a moderate magnetic field (OMEGA (sub e) approximately equals Omega (sub pe). Strong Landau damping on observed nonthermal scattered electrons, which is treated in a companion paper (Newman et al., this issue), plays an important role by inhibiting backscatter cascade and the development of strong turbulence. A parameterized model of the linear electron stream-driven wave instability is introduced, which incorporates limited quasilinear plateau formation. A reasonable set of parameters is found that yields semiquantitative agreement between observed properties of the Langmuir fields and the results of Zakharov equation simulations, including the amplitude and characteristic frequency of the electric field envelope modulations.

Newman, D. L.↗

Acceleration of on-axis and ring-shaped electron beams in wakefields driven by Laguerre-Gaussian pulses

The acceleration of electron beams with multiple transverse structures in wakefields driven by Laguerre-Gaussian pulses has been studied through three-dimensional (3D) particle-in-cell simulations. Under different laser-plasma conditions, the wakefield shows different transverse structures. In general cases, the wakefield shows a donut-like structure and it accelerates the ring-shaped hollow electron beam. When a lower plasma density or a smaller laser spot size is used, besides the donut-like wakefield, a central bell-like wakefield can also be excited. The wake sets in the center of the donut-like wake. In this case, both a central on-axis electron beam and a ring-shaped electron beam are simultaneously accelerated. Further, reducing the plasma density or laser spot size leads to an on-axis electron beam acceleration only. The research is beneficial for some potential applications requiring special pulse beam structures, such as positron acceleration and collimation.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Large amplitude solitary waves in ion-beam plasmas with charged dust impurities

The nonlinear propagation of large amplitude dust ion-acoustic (DIA) solitary waves (SWs) in an ion-beam plasma with stationary charged dusts is investigated. For typical plasma parameters relevant for experiments [Y. Nakamura and K. Komatsuda, J. Plasma Phys. 60, 69 (1998)], when the beam speed is larger than the DIA speed ({nu}{sub b0} > or approx. 1.7c{sub s}), three stable waves, namely, the ''fast'' and ''slow'' ion-beam modes and the plasma DIA wave, are shown to exist. These modes can propagate as SWs in the beam plasmas. However, in the other regime (c{sub s} < {nu}{sub b0} < 1.7c{sub s}), one of the beam modes when coupled to the DIA mode may become unstable. The SWs with positive (negative) potential may exist when the difference of the nonlinear wave speed (M) and the beam speed is such that 1.2 < or approx. M - {nu}{sub b0} < or approx. 1.6 (M - {nu}{sub b0} > or approx. 1.6). Furthermore, for real density perturbations, the wave potential ( > 0) is found to be limited by a critical value which typically depends on M, {nu}{sub b0} as well as the ion/beam temperature. The conditions for the existence of DIA solitons are obtained, and their properties are analyzed numerically in terms of the system parameters. While the system supports both the compressive and rarefactive large amplitude SWs, the small amplitude solitons exist only of the compressive type. The theoretical results may be useful for observation of soliton excitations in laboratory ion-beam driven plasmas as well as in space plasmas where the charged dusts play as impurities.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Development of a Platform at the Matter in Extreme Conditions End Station for Characterization of Matter Heated by Intense Laser-Accelerated Protons

High intensity short-pulse lasers have made possible the generation of energetic proton beams, unlocking numerous applications in high energy density science. One such application is uniform and isochoric heating of materials to the warm dense matter (WDM) state. We have developed a new experimental platform to simultaneously create and probe warm dense matter at the Matter in Extreme Conditions (MEC) end station at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS). The short pulse optical laser (delivering up to 1 J in 45 fs) and the ultra-bright LCLS x-ray laser with tunable frequency respectively deliver high power required to heat materials to WDM and precision-timed high-resolution x-rays to probe them. The laser-accelerated proton beam driven from a flat 1.5 μm Cu foil was first measured then directed to a secondary sample of Al or polypropylene, typically 300-400 μm away. The time evolution of the sample electron temperature was measured using streaked optical pyrometry, where we observed a peak temperature of 0.9 0.15 eV on the rear surface of an Al sample heated by the proton beam. Here, the simulations using the hybrid-PIC code LSP and the rad-hydro code HELIOS show that a measured proton beam can heat Al to approximately 4 eV and polypropylene to 1 eV if instead focused by a hemispherical Cu target. Through additional LSP simulations, we anticipate creating hotter warm dense matter states (20 eV) by increasing the laser energy to 10 J and keeping the other laser parameters fixed.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Electron beam coupling to a metamaterial structure

Microwave metamaterials have shown promise in numerous applications, ranging from strip lines and antennas to metamaterial-based electron beam driven devices. In general, metamaterials allow microwave designers to obtain electromagnetic characteristics not typically available in nature. High Power Microwave (HPM) sources have in the past drawn inspiration from work done in the conventional microwave source community. In this article, the use of metamaterials in an HPM application is considered by using an effective medium model to determine the coupling of an electron beam to a metamaterial structure in a geometry similar to that of a dielectric Cerenkov maser. Use of the effective medium model allows for the analysis of a wide range of parameter space, including the “mu-negative,”“epsilon-negative,” and “double negative” regimes of the metamaterial. The physics of such a system are modeled analytically and by utilizing the particle-in-cell code ICEPIC. For this geometry and effective medium representation, optimum coupling of the electron beam to the metamaterial, and thus the optimum microwave or RF production, occurs in the epsilon negative regime of the metamaterial. Given that HPM tubes have been proposed that utilize a metamaterial, this model provides a rapid method of characterizing a source geometry that can be used to quickly understand the basic physics of such an HPM device.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Nonlinear fishbone dynamics in spherical tokamaks

Linear and nonlinear kinetic-MHD hybrid simulations have been carried out to investigate linear stability and nonlinear dynamics of beam-driven fishbone instability in spherical tokamak plasmas. Realistic NSTX parameters with finite toroidal rotation were used. Our results show that the fishbone is driven by both trapped and passing particles. The instability drive of passing particles is comparable to that of trapped particles in the linear regime. The effects of rotation are destabilizing and a new region of instability appears at higher q min (>1.5) values, q min being the minimum of safety factor profile. In the nonlinear regime, the mode saturates due to flattening of beam ion distribution, and this persists after initial saturation while mode frequency chirps down in such a way that the resonant trapped particles move out radially and keep in resonance with the mode. Correspondingly, the flattening region of beam ion distribution expands radially outward. Furthermore, a substantial fraction of initially non-resonant trapped particles become resonant around the time of mode saturation and keep in resonance with the mode as frequency chirps down. On the other hand, the fraction of resonant passing particles is significantly smaller than that of trapped particles. Finally, our analysis shows that trapped particles provide the main drive to the mode in the nonlinear regime.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Nonlinear fishbone dynamics in spherical tokamaks

Linear and nonlinear kinetic-MHD hybrid simulations have been carried out to investigate linear stability and nonlinear dynamics of beam-driven fishbone instability in spherical tokamak plasmas. Realistic NSTX parameters with finite toroidal rotation were used. The results show that the fishbone is driven by both trapped and passing particles. The instability drive of passing particles is comparable to that of trapped particles in the linear regime. The effects of rotation are destabilizing and a new region of instability appears at higher q min (>1.5) values, q min being the minimum of safety factor profile. In the nonlinear regime, the mode saturates due to flattening of beam ion distribution, and this persists after initial saturation while mode frequency chirps down in such a way that the resonant trapped particles move out radially and keep in resonance with the mode. Correspondingly, the flattening region of beam ion distribution expands radially outward. A substantial fraction of initially non-resonant trapped particles become resonant around the time of mode saturation and keep in resonance with the mode as frequency chirps down. On the other hand, the fraction of resonant passing particles is significantly smaller than that of trapped particles. Our analysis shows that trapped particles provide the main drive to the mode in the nonlinear regime.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

CONTROL OF SYNCHROTRON RADIATION EFFECTS DURING RECIRCULATION

We use results by Di Mitri et al. [1] as the basis of a method for suppression of synchrotron-radiation-driven beam quality degradation during recirculation. Use of second-order achromatic superperiodic recirculation transport based on individually isochronous and achromatic superperiods of low-quantum-excitation lattices is found to provide control of both emittance degradation from coherent synchrotron radiation (CSR) and microbunching instability (?BI) gain. Use of such low excitation lattices and choice of sufficiently large bend radius also insures incoherent synchrotron radiation (ISR) driven effects are well-managed.

Douglas, David↗

Suppressing longitudinal double-layer oscillations by using elliptically polarized laser pulses in the hole-boring radiation pressure acceleration regime

It is shown that well collimated mono-energetic ion beams with a large particle number can be generated in the hole-boring radiation pressure acceleration regime by using an elliptically polarized laser pulse with appropriate theoretically determined laser polarization ratio. Due to the J Multiplication-Sign B effect, the double-layer charge separation region is imbued with hot electrons that prevent ion pileup, thus suppressing the double-layer oscillations. The proposed mechanism is well confirmed by Particle-in-Cell simulations, and after suppressing the longitudinal double-layer oscillations, the ion beams driven by the elliptically polarized lasers own much better energy spectrum than those by circularly polarized lasers.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Essay: Robert H. Siemann As Leader of the Advanced Accelerator Research Department

Robert H. Siemann originally conceived of the Advanced Accelerator Research Department (AARD) as an academic, experimental group dedicated to probing the technical limitations of accelerators while providing excellent educational opportunities for young scientists. The early years of the Accelerator Research Department B, as it was then known, were dedicated to a wealth of mostly student-led experiments to examine the promise of advanced accelerator techniques. High-gradient techniques including millimeter-wave rf acceleration, beam-driven plasma acceleration, and direct laser acceleration were pursued, including tests of materials under rf pulsed heating and short-pulse laser radiation, to establish the ultimate limitations on gradient. As the department and program grew, so did the motivation to found an accelerator research center that brought experimentalists together in a test facility environment to conduct a broad range of experiments. The Final Focus Test Beam and later the Next Linear Collider Test Accelerator provided unique experimental facilities for AARD staff and collaborators to carry out advanced accelerator experiments. Throughout the evolution of this dynamic program, Bob maintained a department atmosphere and culture more reminiscent of a university research group than a national laboratory department. His exceptional ability to balance multiple roles as scientist, professor, and administrator enabled the creation and preservation of an environment that fostered technical innovation and scholarship.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Numerical simulations of global Alfvén eigenmodes excitation and stabilization in NSTX-U

Three-dimensional nonlinear simulations of Alfvén eigenmodes in the subcyclotron frequency range demonstrate a robust physical stabilizing mechanism via modest off-axis beam injection, in agreement with experimental observations from the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX-U). Experimental results from NSTX-U have demonstrated that neutral beam injection from the new beam sources with large tangency radii deposits beam ions with large pitch, which can very effectively stabilize all unstable Global Alfvén Eigenmodes (GAEs). Beam-driven GAEs have been linked to enhanced electron transport in NSTX, and the ability to control these modes will have significant implications for NSTX-U, ITER, and other fusion devices where super-Alfvénic fast ions might be present. Nonlinear simulations using the HYM code have been performed to study the excitation and stabilization of GAEs in the NSTX-U right before and shortly after the additional off-axis beam injection. The simulations reproduce the experimental finding, namely, it is shown that off-axis neutral beam injection reliably and strongly suppresses all unstable GAEs. Before additional beam injection, the simulations show unstable counter-rotating GAEs with toroidal mode numbers and frequencies that match the experimentally determined modes. Additional off-axis beam injection has been modeled by adding beam ions with large pitch and varying density. The complete stabilization occurs at less than 7% of the total beam ion inventory. New analytical theory of GAE (de)stabilization has also been derived, indicating a different interpretation for the GAE stabilization mechanism compared to previous publications.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Focussing Protons from a Kilojoule Laser for Intense Beam Heating using Proximal Target Structures

Proton beams driven by chirped pulse amplified lasers have multi-picosecond duration and can isochorically and volumetrically heat material samples, potentially providing an approach for creating samples of warm dense matter with conditions not present on Earth. Envisioned on a larger scale, they could heat fusion fuel to achieve ignition. We have shown in an experiment that a kilojoule-class, multi-picosecond short pulse laser is particularly effective for heating materials. The proton beam can be focussed via target design to achieve exceptionally high flux, important for the applications mentioned. The laser irradiated spherically curved diamond-like-carbon targets with intensity 4 × 10 18 W/cm 2 , producing proton beams with 3 MeV slope temperature. A Cu witness foil was positioned behind the curved target, and the gap between was either empty or spanned with a structure. With a structured target, the total emission of Cu Kα fluorescence was increased 18 fold and the emission profile was consistent with a tightly focussed beam. Transverse proton radiography probed the target with ps order temporal and 10 μm spatial resolution, revealing the fast-acting focussing electric field. Complementary particle-in-cell simulations show how the structures funnel protons to the tight focus. Here, the beam of protons and neutralizing electrons induce the bright Kα emission observed and heat the Cu to 100 eV.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Focussing Protons from a Kilojoule Laser for Intense Beam Heating Using Proximal Target Structures

Proton beams driven by chirped pulse amplified lasers have multi-picosecond duration and can isochorically and volumetrically heat material samples, potentially providing an approach for creating samples of warm dense matter with conditions not present on Earth. Envisioned on a larger scale, they could heat fusion fuel to achieve ignition. We have shown in an experiment that a kilojoule-class, multi-picosecond short pulse laser is particularly effective for heating materials. The proton beam can be focussed via target design to achieve exceptionally high flux, important for the applications mentioned. The laser irradiated spherically curved diamond-like-carbon targets with intensity 4×10 18 W/cm 2 , producing proton beams with 3MeV slope temperature. A Cu witness foil was positioned behind the curved target, and the gap between was either empty or spanned with a structure. With a structured target, the total emission of Cu Kα fluorescence was increased 18 fold and the emission profile was consistent with a tightly focussed beam. Transverse proton radiography probed the target with ps order temporal and 10 μm spatial resolution, revealing the fast-acting focussing electric field. Complementary particle-in-cell simulations show how the structures funnel protons to the tight focus. The beam of protons and neutralizing electrons induce the bright Kα emission observed and heat the Cu to 100eV.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Toward fully self-consistent simulation of the interaction of E-Clouds and beams with WARP-POSINST

To predict the evolution of electron clouds and their effect on the beam, the high energy physics community has relied so far on the complementary use of 'buildup' and 'single/multi-bunch instability' reduced descriptions. The former describes the evolution of electron clouds at a given location in the ring, or 'station', under the influence of prescribed beams and external fields [1], while the latter (sometimes also referred as the 'quasi-static' approximation [2]) follows the interaction between the beams and the electron clouds around the accelerator with prescribed initial distributions of electrons, assumed to be concentrated at a number of discrete 'stations' around the ring. Examples of single bunch instability codes include HEADTAIL [3], QuickPIC [4, 5], and PEHTS [6]. By contrast, a fully self-consistent approach, in which both the electron cloud and beam distributions evolve simultaneously under their mutual influence without any restriction on their relative motion, is required for modeling the interaction of high-intensity beams with electron clouds for heavy-ion beam-driven fusion and warm-dense matter science. This community has relied on the use of Particle-In-Cell (PIC) methods through the development and use of the WARP-POSINST code suite [1, 7, 8]. The development of novel numerical techniques (including adaptive mesh refinement, and a new 'drift-Lorentz' particle mover for tracking charged particles in magnetic fields using large time steps) has enabled the first application of WARP-POSINST to the fully self-consistent modeling of beams and electron clouds in high energy accelerators [9], albeit for only a few betatron oscillations. It was recently observed [10] that there exists a preferred frame of reference which minimizes the number of computer operations needed to simulate the interaction of relativistic objects. This opens the possibility of reducing the cost of fully self-consistent simulations for the interaction of ultrarelativistic beams with electron cloud by orders of magnitude. The computational cost of the fully self-consistent mode is then predicted to be comparable to that of the quasi-static mode, assuming that several stations per betatron period are needed. During the workshop, there was some debate about the number of stations per betatron period that are needed when using the quasi-static mode. The argument was made that if there is less than one station per betatron period, then artificial resonances can be triggered and the resulting emittance growth provides an upper bound. The emittance growth thus obtained will fall either above or below the operational requirements of the machine. In the latter case, one can conclude that the electron effect that has been simulated is of no concern. However, if the emittance growth that was obtained is above the threshold, then the results become inconclusive, and simulations which resolve the betatron motion are then needed. In this case, according to [10], the fully self-consistent approach becomes an option. The aim of this paper is to investigate whether this option is indeed practical.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

First fast-ion D-alpha (FIDA) measurements and simulations on C-2U

The first measurements of fast-ion D-alpha (FIDA) radiation have been acquired on C-2U, Tri Alpha Energy’s advanced, beam-driven field-reversed configuration (FRC). These measurements are also forward modeled by FIDASIM. This is the first measurement and simulation of FIDA carried out on an FRC topology. FIDA measurements are made of Doppler-shifted Balmer-alpha light from neutralized fast ions using a bandpass filter and photomultiplier tube. One adjustable line-of-sight measured signals at eight locations and eight times during the FRC lifetime over 26 discharges. Filtered signals include only the highest energy ions (>6 keV) and share some salient features with the FIDASIM result. Highly Doppler-shifted beam radiation is also measured with a high-speed camera and is spatially well-correlated with FIDASIM.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Developing a predictive capability for compressional and global Alfvén eigenmodes in NSTX-U and advancing understanding of the associated electron thermal transport. Final report, 04/15/2014 - 04/14/2019

The supported research was motivated by a need to understand a robustly observed degradation of core electron thermal confinement in NSTX that is believed to be caused by beam- driven, high frequency, core-localized compressional (CAE) and global (GAE) Alfvén eigenmodes. The supported research sought to understand the role of CAEs and GAEs in the confinement degradation and to experimentally investigate leading hypotheses for the underlying mechanism. The supported research also sought to advance a predictive capability for CAEs and GAEs, which is potentially necessary for accurate prediction of Te profiles in future ST devices. Under the supported research, significant progress was made toward both goals. Multiple opportunities were realized to validate codes for predicting the characteristics of CAEs and GAEs, including the leading model for CAE and GAE stability, implemented in the Hybrid kinetic code HYM, and the CAE3B Hall MHD eigenmode code. Measurements of CAE and GAE mode internal structure and amplitude were obtained in NSTX and DIII-D (as part of the NSTX-U/DIII- D Collaborative Research National Campaign in 2017), contributing to this validation effort. In many cases, these measurements were firsts of their kind. These measurements also contributed to tests of the leading hypotheses for the role of CAEs and GAEs in core thermal confinement degradation in NSTX. The results of the tests cast doubt on these hypotheses, although questions remain. Activities under the supported research also included other firsts. For instance, experimental evidence was obtained for CAE-KAW mode coupling in NSTX (one of the hypothesized energy transport mechanisms) and a beam density threshold was observed for a CAE in DIII-D.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Density fluctuation measurements by far-forward collective scattering in the MST reversed-field pinch

The multichannel polarimeter-interferometer system on the MST reversed-field pinch can be utilized to measure far-forward collective scattering from electron density fluctuations. The collective scattering system has 11 viewing chords with {approx}8 cm spacing. The source is a 432 {mu}m (694 GHz) far infrared laser and the scattered power is measured using a heterodyne detection scheme. Collective scattering provides a line-integrated measurement of fluctuations within the divergence of the probe beam covering wavenumber range: k{sub Up-Tack} < 1.3 cm{sup -1}, corresponding k{sub Up-Tack }{rho}{sub s} < 1.3 ({rho}{sub s} is the ion-sound Larmor radius), the region of primary interest for turbulent fluctuation-induced transport. The perpendicular wavenumber consists of toroidal, poloidal, and radial contributions, which vary with chord position. Coherent modes associated with tearing instabilities and neutral-beam driven fast particles are observed along with broadband turbulence at frequencies up to 500 kHz. Changes in frequency are consistent with a Doppler shift due to parallel plasma flow.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗