Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “rf source”

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 361 records · Page 20
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Impurity transport in PISCES-RF

Linear plasma devices (LPD) utilizing a helicon plasma source, a high density light ion source, can generate impurities due to progressive erosion of the radio frequency (RF) transmission window caused by rectified sheath voltage. These source-born impurities can entrain and be transported by the plasma toward a target, affecting plasma-material interaction studies. Earlier work on material testing in Prototype-Materials Plasma Exposure eXperiment at ORNL revealed significant source impurity deposition on downstream targets. However, using a similar RF source, no target impurity deposition is observed in Plasma Interaction Surface Component Experimental Station (PISCES)-RF despite evidence of RF window erosion in the source region, thereby motivating the present work. Experimentally, using various magnetic field configurations upstream of the PISCES-RF plasma source and seeding titanium (Ti) impurities at various axial locations, impurity transport and deposition along the machine axis were investigated. It was found that Ti deposition was localized to the side of the plasma source where the Ti impurity was seeded. In contrast, aluminum (Al) deposition, originating from the sputtering of the helicon window, occurred predominantly upstream of the plasma source, suggesting an asymmetry in the axial transport of eroded RF window material. These observations suggest a stagnation of the parallel plasma flow immediately downstream of the plasma source, with impurity ions remaining unmagnetized near the source upstream. Al deposition in magnetic field-free regions in PISCES-RF indicates that sputtered Al impurities likely remained neutral due to their large ionization mean-free path under PISCES-RF conditions. Plasma modeling and simulation supported this, indicating that Al-neutrals transport toward the helicon source upstream for low electron density cases. It was found that the Larmor radius of the Al ions was greater than the plasma radius towards the source upstream and remained weakly magnetized in PISCES-RF, meaning that plasma source-born impurities are not efficiently entrained in the plasma flow. These findings provide critical insights into impurity transport in helicon plasma-based LPDs.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2012

Microgan electron cyclotron resonance ion source in a Van de Graaff accelerator terminal

The Van de Graaff accelerator at IRMM works since many years providing proton, deuteron, and helium beams for nuclear data measurements. The original ion source was of RF type with quartz bottle. This kind of source, as well known, needs regular maintenance for which the accelerator tank must be completely opened. The heavy usage at high currents of the IRMM accelerator necessitated an opening about once every month. In 2010, the full permanent magnet Microgan electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) ion source from PANTECHNIK was installed into a new terminal platform together with a solid state amplifier of 50 W, a dedicated dosing system for 4 gases (with respective gas bottles H{sub 2}, D{sub 2}, He, and Ar), and a set of dedicated power supplies and electronic devices for the remote tuning of the source. The new system shows a very stable behaviour of the produced beam allowing running the Van de Graaf without maintenance for several months. This contribution will describe the full installed system in details (working at high pressure in the terminal, spark effects, and optic of the extraction), as well as beam results in dc or pulsed mode.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2013

Detection of electromagnetic pulses produced by hypervelocity micro particle impact plasmas

Hypervelocity micro particles (mass < 1 ng), including meteoroids and space debris, routinely impact spacecraft and produce plasmas that are initially dense (∼10{sup 28} m{sup −3}), but rapidly expand into the surrounding vacuum. We report the detection of radio frequency (RF) emission associated with electromagnetic pulses (EMPs) from hypervelocity impacts of micro particles in ground-based experiments using micro particles that are 15 orders of magnitude less massive than previously observed. The EMP production is a stochastic process that is influenced by plasma turbulence such that the EMP detection rate that is strongly dependent on impact speed and on the electrical charge conditions at the impact surface. In particular, impacts of the fastest micro particles occurring under spacecraft charging conditions representative of high geomagnetic activity are the most likely to produce RF emission. This new phenomenon may provide a source for unexplained RF measurements on spacecraft charged to high potentials.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2013

Development Of A Compact Photo-injector With RF-focusing Lens For Short Pulse Electron Source Application

For development of compact ultrafast electron source system, we are currently designing a short-pulse RF-gun with RF focusing structure by means of a series of comprehensive modeling analysis processes. EM design of a 2.5 cell resonant cavity with input coupler, acceleration dynamics of photo-emitted electron bunch, EM design of RF-lens with input coupler, and phasespace analysis of focused electron bunch are systematically examined with multi-physics simulators. All the features of the 2.856 GHz cavity geometry were precisely engineered for acceleration energies ranging from 100 keV to 500 keV (safety limited) to be powered by our 5 MW S-band klystron. The klystron (Thales TH2163) and modulator system (ScandiNova K1 turnkey system) were successfully installed and tested. Performance tests of the klystron system show peak output power > 5 MW, as per operation specifications. At the quasi-relativistic energies, the electron source is capable of generating 100fC -- 1 pC electron bunch with pulse duration close to 30 fs -- 1 ps and transverse size of a few hundred microns. PIC simulations have shown that the electron bunch undergoes fast RF acceleration, rapidly reaching the desired energies, which can be controlled by tuning RF injection phase and input driving power. It has been shown that it is possible to also focus/compress the bunch longitudinally using a RF-lens, which would allow us to control the temporal resolution of the system as well. While our primary analysis has been performed on a 2.5 cell design, we are also looking into half-cell (single cavity) design that is expected to provide the same range of beam energy with a simple configuration.

Grabenhofer, Alexander↗
DOE OSTI2025

Coincident learning for beam-based rf station fault identification using phase information at the SLAC linac coherent light source

Anomalies in radio-frequency (rf) stations can result in unplanned downtime and performance degradation in linear accelerators such as SLAC’s Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS). Detecting these anomalies is challenging due to the complexity of accelerator systems, high data volume, and scarcity of labeled fault data. Prior work identified faults using beam-based detection, combining rf amplitude and beam position monitor data. Due to the simplicity of the rf amplitude data, classical methods are sufficient to identify faults, but the recall is constrained by the low-frequency and asynchronous characteristics of the data. In this work, we leverage high-frequency, time-synchronous rf phase data to enhance anomaly detection in the LCLS accelerator. Due to the complexity of phase data, classical methods fail, and we instead train deep neural networks within the Coincident Anomaly Detection (CoAD) framework. We find that applying CoAD to phase data detects nearly 3 times as many anomalies as when applied to amplitude data, while achieving broader coverage across rf stations. Furthermore, the rich structure of phase data enables us to cluster anomalies into distinct physical categories. Through the integration of auxiliary system status bits, we link clusters to specific fault signatures, providing additional granularity for uncovering the root cause of faults. We also investigate interpretability via Shapley values, confirming that the learned models focus on the most informative regions of the data and providing insight for cases where the model makes mistakes. This work demonstrates that phase-based anomaly detection for rf stations improves both diagnostic coverage and root cause analysis in accelerator systems and that deep neural networks are essential for effective analysis.

Accelerator Physics (physics.acc-ph)↗
DOE OSTI2021

Spallation Neutron Source Proton Power Upgrade Low-Level RF Control System Development

The Proton Power Upgrade (PPU) Project is approved for the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and will double the proton beam power capability from 1.4 MW to 2.8 MW with 2 MW beam power available to the first target station. A second target station is planned and will utilize the remaining beam power in the future. The proton power increase will be supported with the addition of twenty-eight new superconducting cavities powered by 700 kW peak power klystrons to increase beam energy while increases to the beam current will be done with a combination of existing RF margin, and DTL HPRF upgrades. The original low-level RF control system has proven to be reliable over the past 15 years of operations, but obsolescence issues mandate a replacement system be developed for the PPU project. The replacement system is realized in a µTCA.4 platform using a combination of commercial off-the-shelf boards and custom hardware to support the requirements of PPU. This paper presents the prototype hardware, firmware, and software development activities along with preliminary testing results of the new system.

Crofford, Mark↗
DOE OSTI2015

Negative ion-driven associated particle neutron generator

We describe an associated particle neutron generator that employs a negative ion source to produce high neutron flux from a small source size. Furthermore, negative ions produced in an rf-driven plasma source are extracted through a small aperture to form a beam which bombards a positively biased, high voltage target electrode. Electrons co-extracted with the negative ions are removed by a permanent magnet electron filter. The use of negative ions enables high neutron output (100% atomic ion beam), high quality imaging (small neutron source size), and reliable operation (no high voltage breakdowns). Finally, the neutron generator can operate in either pulsed or continuous-wave (cw) mode and has been demonstrated to produce 10 6 D-D n/s (equivalent to similar to 10 8 D-T n/s) from a 1 mm-diameter neutron source size to facilitate high fidelity associated particle imaging.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2012

Application of new simulation algorithms for modeling rf diagnostics of electron clouds

Traveling wave rf diagnostics of electron cloud build-up show promise as a non-destructive technique for measuring plasma density and the efficacy of mitigation techniques. However, it is very difficult to derive an absolute measure of plasma density from experimental measurements for a variety of technical reasons. Detailed numerical simulations are vital in order to understand experimental data, and have successfully modeled build-up. Such simulations are limited in their ability to reproduce experimental data due to the large separation of scales inherent to the problem. Namely, one must resolve both rf frequencies in the GHz range, as well as the plasma modulation frequency of tens of MHz, while running for very long simulations times, on the order of microseconds. The application of new numerical simulation techniques allow us to bridge the simulation scales in this problem and produce spectra that can be directly compared to experiments. The first method is to use a plasma dielectric model to measure plasma-induced phase shifts in the rf wave. The dielectric is modulated at a low frequency, simulating the effects of multiple bunch crossings. This allows simulations to be performed without kinetic particles representing the plasma, which both speeds up the simulations as well as reduces numerical noise from interpolation of particle charge and currents onto the computational grid. Secondly we utilize a port boundary condition model to simultaneously absorb rf at the simulation boundaries, and to launch the rf into the simulation. This method improves the accuracy of simulations by restricting rf frequencies better than adding an external (finite) current source to drive rf, and absorbing layers at the boundaries. We also explore the effects of non-uniform plasma densities on the simulated spectra.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Simulations of Hypervelocity Impact Plasmas

The space environment is fraught with complex plasmas spanning a wide range of densities and temperatures. Much of space plasma research has focused on large-scale changes in the ambient plasma and fields from the Sun to the Earth’s atmosphere, driven primarily by the solar wind. Yet one particular type of space plasma, which forms from a hypervelocity impact (HVI), remains poorly understood. Hypervelocity impactors include both meteoroids and space debris. Meteoroids are naturally occurring objects in space that travel between 11 and 72.8 km/s and originate primarily from comets and asteroids. In contrast, space debris are human-made objects with speeds typically < 11 km/s. Hypervelocity impactors routinely hit spacecraft, yet the physics behind the formation of the plasma and the dynamics of its expansion remain largely unknown. The complexity of this phenomenon necessitates a research approach that includes both experimental studies and numerical simulation in order to understand the underlying physical processes that occur upon formation and expansion of the impact plasma. Our research has focused on providing a comprehensive understanding of plasma generated by hypervelocity impacts by meteoroids and space debris on spacecraft in order to characterize the behavior of the expanding plasma and its interactions with the ambient environment. Previously. we conducted experimental campaigns at a dust accelerator facility that can accelerate particles up to 60 km/s, which is representative of meteoroid speeds, and at a light gas gun facility that can accelerate larger projectiles up to 7 km/s, which is representative of orbital debris. The experiments included plasma, optical and radio frequency (RF) sensors in order to understand the dynamics and associated RF emission resulting from hypervelocity plasmas. For this research, we developed and applied machine learning algorithms to identify which type of impactor would produce RF and physics-based models to determine the source of the RF. This was a one-year research program that resulted in 2 refereed journal publications (uploaded separately).

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
NASA NTRS2006

Growth and Properties of Lattice Matched GaAsSbN Epilayer on GaAs for Solar Cell Applications

The growth and properties of GaAsSbN single quantum wells (SQWs) are investigated in this work. The heterostructures were grown on GaAs substrates in an elemental solid source molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) system assisted with a RF plasma nitrogen source. A systematic study has been carried out to determine the influence of various growth conditions, such as the growth temperature and the source shutter-opening sequence, on the quality of the grown layers and the incorporation of N and Sb. The effects of ex situ and in situ annealing under As overpressure on the optical properties of the layers have also been investigated. Substrate temperature in the range of 450-470 C was found to be optimum. Simultaneous opening of the source shutters was found to yield sharper QW interfaces. N and Sb incorporations were found to depend strongly upon substrate temperatures and source shutter opening sequences. A significant increase in PL intensity with a narrowing of PL line shape and blue shift in emission energy were observed on annealing the GaAsSbN/GaAs SQW, with in situ annealing under As overpressure providing better results, compared to ex situ annealing.

Bharatan, Sudhakar↗
DOE OSTI2015

Update on developments at SNIF

The Small Negative Ion Facility (SNIF) at CCFE has been undergoing continuous development and enhancement to both improve operational reliability and increase diagnostic capability. SNIF uses a CW 13.56MHz, 5kW RF driven volume source with a 30kV triode accelerator. Improvement and characterisation work includes: Installation of a new “L” type RF matching unit, used to calculate the load on the RF generator. Use of the electron suppressing biased insert as a Langmuir probe under different beam extraction conditions. Measurement of the hydrogen Fulcher molecular spectrum, used to calculate gas temperature in the source. Beam optimisation through parameter scans, using copper target plate and visible cameras, with results compared with AXCEL-INP to provide beam current estimate. Modelling of the beam power density profile on the target plate using ANSYS to estimate beam power and provide another estimate of beam current. This work is described, and has allowed an estimation of the extracted beam current of approximately 6mA (4mA/cm2) at 3.5kW RF power and a source pressure of 0.6Pa.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Radiofrequency hydrogen ion source with permanent magnets providing axial magnetic field

Uniform axial magnetic field of about 70 G is applied to a radiofrequency (rf) hydrogen ion source by arrays of permanent magnets. The plasma density and electron temperature downstream of the source and near the magnetic filter are compared with those in the previously described ion source, where the axial field has been applied by two solenoids. The source is operated at ∼350 kHz and above 10 kW rf power with a field-effect-transistor-based invertor power supply in 1.5 Pa hydrogen. The results show that the plasma density of ∼10{sup 19} m{sup −3} near the source exit and ∼10{sup 18} m{sup −3} near the magnetic filter can be obtained, which are higher than those with the solenoids.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Status of the ELISE test facility

The test facility ELISE, equipped with a large radio frequency (RF) driven ion source (1×0.9 m2) of half the size of the ion source for the ITER neutral beam injection (NBI) system, is operational since beginning of 2013. The first experimental campaign was dedicated to a thorough qualification of the test facility and its diagnostic tools at low RF power (80 kW in total, i.e. 20 kW per driver) in volume operation, i.e. operation without cesium, where the negative hydrogen ion production is done in the plasma volume only. This paper reports on the main results of the second and third experimental campaigns, where Cs was inserted in the ion source for an enhancement of the negative ion production by the surface process. The second experimental campaign was done still with low RF power, both for hydrogen and deuterium, with pulse lengths of up to 500 s. The results of this campaign are rather encouraging, especially in hydrogen, where large current densities with respect to the low RF power could be achieved at a ratio of co-extracted electrons to extracted ions of 0.5-0.6 at the relevant source pressure of 0.3 Pa. Similar large extracted ion currents could be achieved also in deuterium, but with larger amounts of co-extracted electrons. The required ratio of co-extracted electrons to extracted ions of one could be achieved only in short pulses. The third experimental campaign aimed then for approaching the required ITER NBI parameters with respect to the ion and electron extracted currents, both for hydrogen and deuterium, by increasing the RF power with short pulses, i.e. beam-on times of up to 10 s and RF-on time up to 20 s. Current densities near the ITER NBI requirements could be achieved in hydrogen at a ratio of co-extracted electrons to extracted ions of 0.5-0.6 at the relevant source pressure of 0.3 Pa. As it was the case for the low RF operation, the required filter field was significantly lower than expected from the experience with the small prototype RF source. Similar large extracted ion currents could be achieved also in deuterium, but with larger amounts of co-extracted electrons; the main problem in deuterium operation are the non-stable currents of the co-extracted electrons, most probably caused by the high dynamic of the Cs redistribution in the system. The reasons for this larger instability are still under investigation.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2012

Low-energy beam transport studies supporting the spallation neutron source 1-MW beam operation

The H{sup -} injector consisting of a cesium enhanced RF-driven ion source and a 2-lens electrostatic low-energy beam transport (LEBT) system supports the spallation neutron source 1 MW beam operation with {approx}38 mA beam current in the linac at 60 Hz with a pulse length of up to {approx}1.0 ms. In this work, two important issues associated with the low-energy beam transport are discussed: (1) inconsistent dependence of the post-radio frequency quadrupole accelerator beam current on the ion source tilt angle and (2) high power beam losses on the LEBT electrodes under some off-nominal conditions compromising their reliability.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2019

Partial relay selection in mixed RF/FSO dual-hop system over unified M-distributed fading channel with non-zero boresight pointing errors

In this paper, the performance of a partial relay selection-based amplify-and-forward mixed radio frequency/free space optical (RF/FSO) system with a direct RF link and outdated channel state information (CSI) is presented. The source-to-relay and source-to-destination RF links are subjected to Rayleigh distributions while the relay-to-destination FSO link experiences Malaga (M)-distribution with generalized non-zero boresight pointing errors. It is also assumed that selection combining diversity with heterodyne detection is considered for the signal reception at the destination. Moreover, the cumulative distribution functions of the end-to-end signal-to-noise under the influence of with/or without a direct link are then derived for the concerned system. Through this, the closed-form expressions for the system outage probability and average bit error rate are obtained. Thus, the influence of atmospheric turbulence, outdated CSI and relay selection are evaluated for the system under zero boresight and non-zero boresight displacement pointing errors scenarios. The results illustrated that the mixed RF/FSO system with a direct link offers better performance than the one without a direct link. The accuracy of the presented results is validated by Monte-Carlo simulation.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2016

Efficient cesiation in RF driven surface plasma negative ion source

Experiments on hydrogen negative ions production in the large radio-frequency negative ion source with cesium seed are described. The system of directed cesium deposition to the plasma grid periphery was used. The small cesium seed (∼0.5 G) provides an enhanced H{sup −} production during a 2 month long experimental cycle. The gradual increase of negative ion yield during the long-term source runs was observed after cesium addition to the source. The degraded H{sup −} production was recorded after air filling to the source or after the cesium washing away from the driver and plasma chamber walls. The following source conditioning by beam shots produces the gradual recovery of H{sup −} yield to the high value. The effect of H{sup −} yield recovery after cesium coverage passivation by air fill was studied. The concept of cesium coverage replenishment and of H{sup −} yield recovery due to sputtering of cesium from the deteriorated layers is discussed.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
NASA NTRS2010

Measurement Techniques for Transmit Source Clock Jitter for Weak Serial RF Links

Techniques for filtering clock jitter measurements are developed, in the context of controlling data modulation jitter on an RF carrier to accommodate low signal-to-noise ratio thresholds of high-performance error correction codes. Measurement artifacts from sampling are considered, and a tutorial on interpretation of direct readings is included.

Lansdowne, Chatwin A.↗