DARHT Overview [Slides]
DARHT is a key facility for Stockpile Stewardship. Dual Axis Radiographic Hydrodynamic Test Facility - World-class X-ray radiography for dynamic non-nuclear tests.
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DARHT is a key facility for Stockpile Stewardship. Dual Axis Radiographic Hydrodynamic Test Facility - World-class X-ray radiography for dynamic non-nuclear tests.
Quantitative electron beam-target interaction studies on the Dual-Axis Radiographic Hydrodynamic Test (DARHT) electron linear induction accelerators have only been performed recently. This includes characterization of the temperature, density, pressure, extent, and expansion velocity of the plasma plume. The results presented in this dissertation present a detailed and unified overview of the accelerator systems, target heating physics, beam transport, and diagnostic tools. Additional information includes calibration sources, radiation hydrodynamics, spectroscopic-quality radiation transport modeling, experimental measurements, and analyses of electron beam driven aluminum experiments. The first set of spatially and temporally resolved spectroscopic measurements of electron beam driven aluminum are presented. Contamination quantification analyses are used to understand the origin of the strong Na-I 3p-3s lines that are observed in absorption within the aluminum plasma continuum. These results inform the creation of the first spectroscopic-quality radiation transport model that links several atomic physics codes to interpret the conditions from which the Na-I lines originate. A good agreement is found between the surface analysis results and the model which confirms the concentration of the sodium present within the aluminum alloy foil material. It also demonstrates, for the first time on electron beam-driven target experiments, the ability to interpret plasma conditions from measured absorption lines. In a second experimental campaign which focuses on pure aluminum, the Al-I 3p-4s and 3p3d doublets are both measured in emission. A detailed analysis of the Al-I 3p-4s doublet reveals that the lines undergo moderate self-absorption. A simple model of the self-absorption effect is successfully used to match measured spectra at various temperature/density/plasma scale length combinations. These measurements led to the realization of the minimum density that can be resolved by the spectrometers for the Al-I 3p-4s lines due to the large slit width required to observe a signal on aluminum. These measurements also demonstrate the sensitivity of visible and long wave UV spectroscopy to minor changes in both temperature and density. The simple self-absorption model will be useful for analysis of other beam-target interaction experiments with spectra exhibiting either self-absorption or full self-reversal. Substantial headway has been made on the modeling front by linking together several codes needed to model both the energy deposition, hydrodynamic motion, and atomic kinetics to produce synthetic spectral calculations that are compared with experimental measurements. There exists ample space for improvement, especially with benchmarking the hydrodynamics codes and equation-of-state tables with experimental measurements. The X-ray diagnostics required to make these new measurements along with the simulation capabilities required to interpret the results are under development and will be the subject of future studies.
Why are absolute energy measurements on DARHT needed? They are needed for: Comparison of methods for deconvolution and system identification, Bayesian formulation of the system identification problem, and cross-calibration results and improvements over previous calibration.
Azimuthal arrays of magnetic and electric field detectors are used to measure the position of the centroid of the DARHT relativistic electron beams. These arrays consist of four detectors with 90-degree azimuthal separation. Differencing the opposing detectors and normalizing to the sum of all four gives the position of the beam, subject to negligibly small errors as discussed in Attachment A. This measurement yields the centroid of the current density, independent of the beam azimuthal asymmetry.
As previously described, we have built a non-interceptive beam radius monitor that employs a diamagnetic loop. This device has been installed and tested with beam on the DARHT-I downstream transport. Installation details and sample test results are given in this report.
Beam position monitors (BPMs) provide time-resolved measurements of the current and centroid position of high-current electron beams in linear induction accelerators (LIAs). One of the types of detectors used in BPMs is the B-dot loop, which generates a signal from the EMF due to the time varying magnetic flux through the loop. If some of the boundaries of the loop are composed of thick metal walls with finite conductivity, the resulting signal must be corrected for the magnetic field diffusion into the metal. The theoretically predicted flux due to diffusion is in remarkable agreement with experimental measurements. Although accurate BPM measurements of beam current require correction of magnetic field diffusion, accurate measurement of beam position requires no correction. In this note, we present experimental validation of current and position results from a prototype detector employing finite conductivity sensing areas, based on experiments on the DARHT-II LIA.
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) biological subject matter experts in the Environmental Protection and Compliance Division initiated a multi-year program in 2013 to monitor avifauna (birds) at two open detonation sites and one open burn site on LANL property. Additional monitoring began in 2017 at a third firing site, the Dual-Axis Radiographic Hydrodynamic Test Facility (DARHT). In this annual report, we compare monitoring results from these efforts among years to identify and evaluate firing and open burn site impacts on the local bird community.
The penetrating radiography provided by DARHT is a key capability in executing a core mission of LANL.
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This presentation covers these topics: the beam envelope equation for tuning, Optical Transition Radiation (OTR), the solenoid scan method for beam identification, the Pepper-pot method for beam identification, and Beam-target studies via gated imaging.
Recent studies have shown a strong correlation between spot size on target and the dose. At higher doses, the spot size is larger. At very low doses (< 75 R @ 1m per pulse) all four spots are small and essentially the same with 50%MTFs of 1.0-1.2 mm. For higher dose pulse formats, the first two pulses, P1 and P2 remain small (< 1.2 mm 50%MTF) and relatively independent of dose. The later pulses, P3 and P4, become larger as the dose increases. Longer pulse lengths are required to achieve higher doses. There are simulations that suggest space charge neutralization and current neutralization could be introducing dynamic changes in the spot size over the pulse. This implies that increasing the dose rate will allow for reduced pulse lengths and spot size for the same dose.
Diamagnetic-loop (DML) measurements can inform efforts to improve radiographic resolution. DML is non-invasive, so time-resolved data is available on every shot while tuning or executing a hydrotest. The time-resolved beam size can be deduced from the DML data. LIA beam-transport dynamics affecting beam size can be monitored while testing mitigation measures (e.g., beam halo suppression). Time-resolved beam size at final focus provides immediate information about spot size enlargement due to blur, and effectiveness of mitigation efforts. DML measures magnetic flux produced by a rotating beam, so it also enables monitoring of Larmor emittance that can enlarge the spot size. Beam rotation adds in quadrature with emittance, hence “Larmor emittance." Observing zero bias-field DML flux monitors beam rotation resulting from imperfect nulling of flux linking the cathode, and/or broken LIA transport symmetry (e.g., steering, quads, etc.).
The presentation is an oral defense for the author's PhD.
Beam position monitors (BPMs) provide time-resolved measurements of the current and centroid position of high-current electron beams in linear induction accelerators (LIAs). A frequently used BPM detector is the B-dot loop, which generates a signal from the EMF generated by the time varying magnetic flux through the loop. We have developed a second generation BPM that avoids previously observed diffusion effects in earlier stainless steel through the use of exceptionally high conductivity copper alloy for its construction.