Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “Accelerators, Instrumentation”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 325 records · Page 18

The CMS Phase-1 Pixel Detector Upgrade

The CMS detector at the CERN LHC features a silicon pixel detector as its innermost subdetector. The original CMS pixel detector has been replaced with an upgraded pixel system (CMS Phase-1 pixel detector) in the extended year-end technical stop of the LHC in 2016/2017. The upgraded CMS pixel detector is designed to cope with the higher instantaneous luminosities that have been achieved by the LHC after the upgrades to the accelerator during the first long shutdown in 2013–2014. Compared to the original pixel detector, the upgraded detector has a better tracking performance and lower mass with four barrel layers and three endcap disks on each side to provide hit coverage up to an absolute value of pseudorapidity of 2.5. This paper describes the design and construction of the CMS Phase-1 pixel detector as well as its performance from commissioning to early operation in collision data-taking.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Note: Absolute calibration of two DRZ phosphor screens using ultrashort electron bunch

This article gives the absolute calibration of two types phosphor screens (DRZ) that were used to detect and characterize electron bunches driven by laser-plasma accelerator. The test was performed with picoseconds electron bunch at a radio frequency linear electron accelerator in Tsinghua University. The photons emitted from DRZ screens showed good linear responses to the charge of incident electron bunch and cosine angular distribution in space. An energy conversional efficiency of effective scintillant matter was also calculated.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Linear accelerator x-ray sources with high duty cycle

X-ray cargo inspection systems typically use a several-MV pulsed linear accelerator (linac) to produce a bremsstrahlung spectrum of x rays by bombarding a target with electrons. The x rays traverse the cargo and are detected by a detector array. Spectroscopy of the detected x rays is very desirable: if one can determine the spectrum of the transmitted x rays, one can determine the Z of the material they traversed. Even in relatively low-dose modes of operation, thousands of x rays arrive at each detector element during each pulse, unless the x rays are heavily absorbed or scattered by the cargo. For portal or fixed-site systems, dose rates, and therefore x-ray count rates, are even higher. Because of the high x-ray count rate, spectroscopy is impractical in conventional cargo inspection systems, except in certain special cases. For a mobile system, typical pulse durations are a few microseconds, and the number of pulses is on the order of 100 per second, leading to a duty factor of about 0.04%. Clearly, a linear accelerator x-ray source with much higher duty factor would be useful, since then the same number of x rays could be spread out over time, reducing the x-ray count rate. In this paper, we explore the possibility of designing a linear accelerator system, using more or less Conventional Off the Shelf (COTS) components, capable of duty cycles of 1% or greater. A survey was conducted of available linac RF source options and, given the possibilities, calculations were performed for suitable beam centerline designs. Keeping in mind that the size and cost of the accelerator system should be practical for use in a mobile cargo inspection system, only a few options are shown to be reasonably feasible, both requiring the use of klystrons instead of the magnetrons used in conventional systems. An S-Band design appears clearly possible, and there is also a promising X-Band design.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

A 2 MV Van de Graaff accelerator as a tool for planetary and impact physics research

Investigating the dynamical and physical properties of cosmic dust can reveal a great deal of information about both the dust and its many sources. Over recent years, several spacecraft (e.g., Cassini, Stardust, Galileo, and Ulysses) have successfully characterised interstellar, interplanetary, and circumplanetary dust using a variety of techniques, including in situ analyses and sample return. Charge, mass, and velocity measurements of the dust are performed either directly (induced charge signals) or indirectly (mass and velocity from impact ionisation signals or crater morphology) and constrain the dynamical parameters of the dust grains. Dust compositional information may be obtained via either time-of-flight mass spectrometry of the impact plasma or direct sample return. The accurate and reliable interpretation of collected spacecraft data requires a comprehensive programme of terrestrial instrument calibration. This process involves accelerating suitable solar system analogue dust particles to hypervelocity speeds in the laboratory, an activity performed at the Max Planck Institut fuer Kernphysik in Heidelberg, Germany. Here, a 2 MV Van de Graaff accelerator electrostatically accelerates charged micron and submicron-sized dust particles to speeds up to 80 km s{sup -1}. Recent advances in dust production and processing have allowed solar system analogue dust particles (silicates and other minerals) to be coated with a thin conductive shell, enabling them to be charged and accelerated. Refinements and upgrades to the beam line instrumentation and electronics now allow for the reliable selection of particles at velocities of 1-80 km s{sup -1} and with diameters of between 0.05 {mu}m and 5 {mu}m. This ability to select particles for subsequent impact studies based on their charges, masses, or velocities is provided by a particle selection unit (PSU). The PSU contains a field programmable gate array, capable of monitoring in real time the particles' speeds and charges, and is controlled remotely by a custom, platform independent, software package. The new control instrumentation and electronics, together with the wide range of accelerable particle types, allow the controlled investigation of hypervelocity impact phenomena across a hitherto unobtainable range of impact parameters.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Generation of multi-color attosecond x-ray radiation through modulation compression

In this paper, we propose a scheme to generate tunable multi-color attosecond coherent x-ray radiation. This scheme uses a modulation compression method to generate a multi-spike prebunched kilo-ampere peak current electron beam from a few tens ampere electron beam out of a linac. Such a beam transporting through a series of undulator radiators and bunch compressors generates multi-color coherent x-ray radiation. As an illustration, we present an example to generate two attosecond pulses with 2.2 nm and 3 nm coherent x-ray radiation wavelength and more than 200 MW peak power using a 50 A 200 nm laser seeded electron beam.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

The SIRAD irradiation facility at LNL

SIRAD is the irradiation facility at the Tandem XTU accelerator of the INFN National Laboratory of Legnaro (Padova, Italy) dedicated to study radiation effects, both comulative and Single Event, on silicon detectors and microelectronic devices and systems. SIRAD is routinely used by various research groups involved in the development of semiconductor detectors and electronics to be used in radiation hostile environments as experiments at high-energy/high luminosity accelerators or in space, or interested to study the basic radiation damage mechanisms. Single Events Effects (SEE) studies with micrometric resolution can be performed at SIRAD thanks to an Ion Electron Emission Microscope (IEEM) inserted at the end of the beam line. Here we describe the SIRAD facility including the available and future beam characteristics, and the IEEM performances as well as the scientific and technological solutions which have been implemented for its construction.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Charge Transport Properties of CdMnTe Radiation Detectors

Growth, fabrication and characterization of indium-doped cadmium manganese telluride (CdMnTe) radiation detectors have been described. Alpha-particle spectroscopy measurements and time resolved current transient measurements have yielded an average charge collection efficiency approaching 100 %. Spatially resolved charge collection efficiency maps have been produced for a range of detector bias voltages. Inhomogeneities in the charge transport of the CdMnTe crystals have been associated with chains of tellurium inclusions within the detector bulk. Further, it has been shown that the role of tellurium inclusions in degrading charge collection is reduced with increasing values of bias voltage. The electron transit time was determined from time of flight measurements. From the dependence of drift velocity on applied electric field the electron mobility was found to be μ n = (718 ± 55) cm 2 /Vs at room temperature.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Elemental and charge state composition of the fast solar wind observed with SMS instruments on WIND

The elemental composition and charge state distributions of heavy ions of the solar wind provide essential information about: (1) atom-ion separation processes in the solar atmosphere leading to the 'FIP effect' (the overabundance of low First Ionization potential (FIP) elements in the solar wind compared to the photosphere); and (2) coronal temperature profiles, as well as mechanisms which heat the corona and accelerate the solar wind. This information is required for solar wind acceleration models. The SWICS instrument on Ulysses measures for all solar wind flow conditions the relative abundance of about 8 elements and 20 charge states of the solar wind. Furthermore, the Ulysses high-latitude orbit provides an unprecedented look at the solar wind from the polar coronal holes near solar minimum conditions. The MASS instrument on the WIND spacecraft is a high-mass resolution solar wind ion mass spectrometer that will provide routinely not only the abundances and charge state of all elements easily measured with SWICS, but also of N, Mg, S. The MASS sensor was fully operational at the end of 1994 and has sampled the in-ecliptic solar wind composition in both the slow and the corotating fast streams. This unique combination of SWICS on Ulysses and MASS on WIND allows us to view for the first time the solar wind from two regions of the large coronal hole. Observations with SWICS in the coronal hole wind: (1) indicate that the FIP effect is small; and (2) allow us determine the altitude of the maximum in the electron temperature profile, and indicate a maximum temperature of approximately 1.5 MK. New results from the SMS instruments on Wind will be compared with results from SWICS on Ulysses.

Gloeckler, G.↗

Fast magnetospheric echoes of energetic electron beams

Electron beam experiments using rocket-borne instrumentation confirmed earlier observations of fast magnetospheric echoes of artificially injected energetic electrons. A total of 234 echoes were observed in a pitch angle range from 9 to 110 deg at energies of 1.87 and 3.90 keV. Of these, 102 echoes could unambiguously be identified with known accelerator operations at 2, 4 or 8 keV energy and highest current levels resulting in the determination of transit times of typically 300 to 400 ms. In most cases, when echoes were present in both energy channels, the higher energy electrons led the lower energy ones by 50 to 70 ms. Adiabatic theory applied to these observations yields a reflection height of 3000 to 4000 km. The injection process is discussed as the strong beam-plasma interaction that occurred near the electron accelerator appears to be instrumental in generating the source of heated electrons required for successful echo detection.

Wilhelm, K.↗

Characterization of spatially resolved high resolution x-ray spectrometers for high energy density physics and light source experiments

A high resolution 1D imaging x-ray spectrometer concept comprising a spherically bent crystal and a 2D pixelated detector is being optimized for diagnostics of small sources such as high energy density physics (HEDP) and synchrotron radiation or x-ray free electron laser experiments. This instrument is used on tokamak experiments for Doppler measurements of ion temperature and plasma flow velocity profiles. Laboratory measurements demonstrate a resolving power, E/ΔE of order 10 000 and spatial resolution better than 10 μm. Initial tests of the high resolution instrument on HEDP plasmas are being performed.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Spectral encoding method for measuring the relative arrival time between x-ray/optical pulses

The advent of few femtosecond x-ray light sources brings promise of x-ray/optical pump-probe experiments that can measure chemical and structural changes in the 10–100 fs time regime. Widely distributed timing systems used at x-ray Free-Electron Laser facilities are typically limited to above 50 fs fwhm jitter in active x-ray/optical synchronization. The approach of single-shot timing measurements is used to sort results in the event processing stage. This has seen wide use to accommodate the insufficient precision of active stabilization schemes. In this article, we review the current technique for “measure-and-sort” at the Linac Coherent Light Source at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. The relative arrival time between an x-ray pulse and an optical pulse is measured near the experimental interaction region as a spectrally encoded cross-correlation signal. The cross-correlation provides a time-stamp for filter-and-sort algorithms used for real-time sorting. Sub-10 fs rms resolution is common in this technique, placing timing precision at the same scale as the duration of the shortest achievable x-ray pulses.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Emittance study of a 28 GHz electron cyclotron resonance ion source for the Rare Isotope Science Project superconducting linear accelerator

A 28 GHz electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) ion source is being developed for use as an injector for the superconducting linear accelerator of the Rare Isotope Science Project. Beam extraction from the ECR ion source has been simulated using the KOBRA3-INP software. The simulation software can calculate charged particle trajectories in three dimensional complex magnetic field structures, which in this case are formed by the arrangement of five superconducting magnets. In this study, the beam emittance is simulated to understand the effects of plasma potential, mass-to-charge ratio, and spatial distribution. The results of these simulations and their comparison to experimental results are presented in this paper.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Fast magnetospheric echoes of energetic electron beams

Electron beam experiments using rocketborne instrumentation have confirmed earlier observations of fast magnetospheric echoes of artificially injected energetic electrons. A total of 234 echoes have been observed in a pitch angle range from 9 to 110 deg at energies of 1.87 and 3.90 keV. Out of this number, 95 echoes could unambiguously be identified with known accelerator operations at 2-, 4-, or 8-keV energy and highest current levels resulting in the determination of transit times of typically 300 to 400 ms. In most cases, when echoes were present in both energy channels, the higher-energy electrons led the lower-energy ones by 50 to 70 ms. Adiabatic theory applied to these observations yields a reflection height of 3000 to 4000 km. An alternative interpretation is briefly examined, and its relative merit in describing the observations is evaluated. The injection process is discussed in some detail as the strong beam-plasma interaction that occurred near the electron accelerator appears to be instrumental in generating the source of heated electrons required for successful echo detection for both processes.

Wilhelm, K.↗

IBIS: An inverse geometry Brillouin inelastic neutron spectrometer for the SNS

The high power target station at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) currently has about 20 completed neutron scattering instruments. With a broad coverage of the momentum transfer (Q)-energy (E) space, these instruments serve an extensive user community. In an effort to further expand the scientific capabilities of the SNS instrument suites, we propose a low background, inverse geometry Brillouin inelastic spectrometer for the SNS which will expand the Q-E coverage of the current instrument suite and facilitate the study of inelastic and quasi-elastic scatterings at low Q values. The possible location for the proposed instrument is either beamline 8 which views the decoupled water moderator, or beamline 14A, which views a cold, coupled super critical hydrogen moderator. The instrument parameters, optimizations, and performances at these two beamline locations are discussed.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

A compact electron source for the dielectric laser accelerator

In this work, we design and demonstrate a compact electron source that combines an integrated silicon nanotip photoemitter with a compact silicon-based electrostatic lens. The lens simultaneously accelerates electrons to 30 keV and focuses the resulting beam to a 0.4 μm (RMS) beam diameter with 62 pm-rad normalized emittance at a distance of 20 mm from the cathode. The compact nature of this lens provides a compelling source for dielectric laser accelerator (DLA) beamlines, ultrafast electron diffraction, or ultrafast electron microscopy. Driven by a 220 fs, 1960 nm pulsed laser beam, electron currents up to 28 electrons/pulse at 100 kHz are demonstrated. The electron bunch length is 540 ± 50 fs for photocurrents of <1 electron/pulse, increasing to 700 ± 80 fs for 28 electrons/pulse, as measured by cross correlation with a 220 fs pulsed laser beam. The maximum 5D peak brightness is measured to be 6.8 × 10 13 A/(m 2 rad 2 ) at 28 electrons/pulse. These results represent a significant step toward developing practical benchtop-sized linear accelerators based on DLA technology or compact ultrafast electron microscopy and diffraction applications.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Electron bunch energy and phase feed-forward stabilization system for the Mark V RF-linac free-electron laser

An amplitude and phase compensation system has been developed and tested at the University of Hawai'i for the optimization of the RF drive system to the Mark V free-electron laser. Temporal uniformity of the RF drive is essential to the generation of an electron beam suitable for optimal free-electron laser performance and the operation of an inverse Compton scattering x-ray source. The design of the RF measurement and compensation system is described in detail and the results of RF phase compensation are presented. Performance of the free-electron laser was evaluated by comparing the measured effects of phase compensation with the results of a computer simulation. Finally, preliminary results are presented for the effects of amplitude compensation on the performance of the complete system.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Current and future uses of accelerators in particle astrophysics

Beams of artificially accelerated heavy ions, protons, antiprotons, electrons, and positrons currently available at (and planned for) numerous facilities around the world are a valuable resource to the Cosmic Ray community. Such beams have been used to test detector concepts, calibrate balloon-borne and space flight experiments and to measure fundamental nuclear physics parameter necessary for the interpretation of Cosmic Ray data. As new experiments are flown the quality and extent of Cosmic Ray measurements will continue to improve. It will be necessary to increase activity at ground based accelerators in order to test/calibrate these new instruments and to maintain (or possibly improve) the ability to interpret these data. In this area, the newly formed Transport Collaboration, supported by NASA, will be providing new nuclear interaction cross section measurements for beams with Z less than or = 58 and supporting new instrument calibrations at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory Bevalac accelerator.

Guzik, T. G.↗