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Numerical study of plasma generation process and internal antenna heat loadings in J-PARC RF negative ion source
A numerical model of plasma transport and electromagnetic field in the J-PARC (Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex) radio frequency ion source has been developed to understand the relation between antenna coil heat loadings and plasma production/transport processes. From the calculation, the local plasma density increase is observed in the region close to the antenna coil. Electrons are magnetized by the magnetic field line with absolute magnetic flux density 30–120 Gauss which leads to high local ionization rate. The results suggest that modification of magnetic configuration can be made to reduce plasma heat flux onto the antenna.
Operating modes of a hydrogen ion source based on a hollow-cathode pulsed Penning discharge
An ion source based on a hollow-cathode Penning discharge was switched to a high-current pulsed mode (tens of amperes and tens of microseconds) to produce an intense hydrogen ion beam. With molecular hydrogen (H{sub 2}), the ion beam contained three species: H{sup +}, H{sub 2}{sup +}, and H{sub 3}{sup +}. For all experimental conditions, the fraction of H{sub 2}{sup +} ions in the beam was about 10 ÷ 15% of the total ion beam current and varied little with ion source parameters. At the same time, the ratio of H{sup +} and H{sub 3}{sup +} depended strongly on the discharge current, particularly on its distribution in the gap between the hollow and planar cathodes. Increasing the discharge current increased the H{sup +} fraction in ion beam. The maximum fraction of H{sup +} reached 80% of the total ion beam current. Forced redistribution of the discharge current in the cathode gap for increasing the hollow cathode current could greatly increase the H{sub 3}{sup +} fraction in the beam. At optimum parameters, the fraction of H{sub 3}{sup +} ions reached 60% of the total ion beam current.
Proton beam production by a laser ion source with hydride target
We studied proton beam production from a laser ion source using hydrogen rich target materials. In general, gas based species are not suitable for laser ion sources since formation of a dense laser target is difficult. In order to achieve reliable operation, we tested hydride targets using a sub nanosecond Q-switched Nd-YAG laser, which may help suppress target material consumption. We detected enough yields of protons from a titanium hydride target without degradation of beam current during the experiment. The combination of a sub nanosecond laser and compressed hydride target may provide stable proton beam.
Detailed beam and plasma measurements on the vessel for extraction and source plasma analyses (VESPA) Penning H{sup −} ion source
A vessel for extraction and source plasma analyses (VESPA) is operational at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL). This project supports and guides the overall ion source R&D effort for the ISIS spallation neutron and muon facility at RAL. The VESPA produces 100 mA of pulsed H{sup −} beam, but perveance scans indicate that the source is production-limited at extraction voltages above 12 kV unless the arc current is increased. A high resolution optical monochromator is used to measure plasma properties using argon as a diagnostic gas. The atomic hydrogen temperature increases linearly with arc current, up to 2.8 eV for 50 A; whereas the electron temperature has a slight linear decrease toward 2.2 eV. The gas density is 10{sup 21} m{sup −3}, whilst the electron density is two orders of magnitude lower. Densities follow square root relationships with arc current, with gas density decreasing whilst electron (and hence ion) density increases. Stopping and range of ions in matter calculations prove that operating a high current arc with an argon admixture is extremely difficult because cathode-coated cesium is heavily sputtered by argon.
First results of the 2.45 GHz Oshima electron cyclotron resonance ion source
A new electron cyclotron resonance ion source has been constructed at Oshima College with a 2.45 GHz magnetron microwave source and permanent magnets employed as the main components. In addition, a solid-state power amplifier with a frequency range of 2.5–6.0 GHz was installed to study two-frequency plasma heating. Three solenoid coils were set up for adjusting the axial magnetic fields. Argon plasma generation and ion beam production have been conducted during the first year of operation. Ion current densities in the ECR plasma were measured using a biased disk. For 2.45 and 4.65 GHz two-frequency plasma heating, the ion density was approximately 1.5 times higher than that of 2.45 GHz single-frequency heating.
Development of a miniature microwave electron cyclotron resonance plasma ion thruster for exospheric micro-propulsion
A miniature microwave electron cyclotron resonance plasma source [(discharge diameter)/(microwave cutoff diameter) < 0.3] has been developed at Kyushu University to be used as an ion thruster in micro-propulsion applications in the exosphere. The discharge source uses both radial and axial magnetostatic field confinement to facilitate electron cyclotron resonance and increase the electron dwell time in the volume, thereby enhancing plasma production efficiency. Performance of the ion thruster is studied at 3 microwave frequencies (1.2 GHz, 1.6 GHz, and 2.45 GHz), for low input powers (<15 W) and small xenon mass flow rates (<40 μg/s), by experimentally measuring the extracted ion beam current through a potential difference of ≅1200 V. The discharge geometry is found to operate most efficiently at an input microwave frequency of 1.6 GHz. At this frequency, for an input power of 8 W, and propellant (xenon) mass flow rate of 21 μg/s, 13.7 mA of ion beam current is obtained, equivalent to an calculated thrust of 0.74 mN.
Charge neutralized low energy beam transport at Brookhaven 200 MeV linac
The H{sup −} magnetron source provides about 100 mA H{sup −} beam to be match into the radio-frequency quadrupole accelerator. As H{sup −} beam traverses through low energy transport, it ionizes the residual gas and electrons are repelled and positive ions are trapped in the beam, due to negative potential of the beam, providing charge neutralization for the H{sup −} beam. The neutralization time for the critical density depends upon the background gas and its pressure. Critical density for xenon gas at 35 keV is about 43 times smaller than that of hydrogen and stripping cross section is only 5 times than that of hydrogen gas. We are using xenon gas to reduce neutralization time and to improve transmission through the 200 MeV linac. We are also using pulse nitrogen gas to improve transmission and stability of polarized H{sup −} beam from optically pumped polarized ion source.
Properties of the insertion devices for PETRA III and its extension
DESY presently operates 14 independent insertion device (ID) beamlines at its 6 GeV storage ring PETRA III. Besides the 2 m long standard undulators U29 and U32, several special IDs of up to 5 m length have been installed to meet the experimental requests for high energy X-rays, elliptically polarized light, and a higher degree of coherence. Two additional half octants of the ring have recently been reconstructed, in order to extend the experimental capabilities at PETRA III. The straight sections also allow for installation of IDs of 2 m or 5 m length. This article gives an overview of the ID key parameters, the spectral properties and the brilliance of the current undulators installed at PETRA III. It also presents the characteristics of some of the upcoming special IDs, like in-vacuum and short undulators.
DCS - A high flux beamline for time resolved dynamic compression science – Design highlights
The Dynamic Compression Sector (DCS) beamline, a national user facility for time resolved dynamic compression science supported by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) of the Department of Energy (DOE), has recently completed construction and is being commissioned at Sector 35 of the Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL). The beamline consists of a First Optics Enclosure (FOE) and four experimental enclosures. A Kirkpatrick–Baez focusing mirror system with 2.2 mrad incident angles in the FOE delivers pink beam to the experimental stations. A refocusing Kirkpatrick–Baez mirror system is situated in each of the two most downstream enclosures. Experiments can be conducted in either white, monochromatic, pink or monochromatic-reflected beam mode in any of the experimental stations by changing the position of two interlocked components in the FOE. The beamline Radiation Safety System (RSS) components have been designed to handle the continuous beam provided by two in-line revolver undulators with periods of 27 and 30 mm, at closed gap, 150 mA beam current, and passing through a power limiting aperture of 1.5 x 1.0 mm{sup 2}. A novel pink beam end station stop [1] is used to stop the continuous and focused pink beam which can achieve a peak heat flux of 105 kW/mm{sup 2}. A new millisecond shutter design [2] is used to deliver a quick pulse of beam to the sample, synchronized with the dynamic event, the microsecond shutter, and the storage ring clock.
Temperature gradient scale length measurement: A high accuracy application of electron cyclotron emission without calibration
Calibration is a crucial procedure in electron temperature (T{sub e}) inference from a typical electron cyclotron emission (ECE) diagnostic on tokamaks. Although the calibration provides an important multiplying factor for an individual ECE channel, the parameter ΔT{sub e}/T{sub e} is independent of any calibration. Since an ECE channel measures the cyclotron emission for a particular flux surface, a non-perturbing change in toroidal magnetic field changes the view of that channel. Hence the calibration-free parameter is a measure of T{sub e} gradient. B{sub T}-jog technique is presented here which employs the parameter and the raw ECE signals for direct measurement of electron temperature gradient scale length.
Advances in the FTU collective Thomson scattering system
The new collective Thomson scattering diagnostic installed on the Frascati Tokamak Upgrade device started its first operations in 2014. The ongoing experiments investigate the presence of signals synchronous with rotating tearing mode islands, possibly due to parametric decay processes, and phenomena affecting electron cyclotron beam absorption or scattering measurements. The radiometric system, diagnostic layout, and data acquisition system were improved accordingly. The present status and near-term developments of the diagnostic are presented.
Measurement of effect of electron cyclotron heating in a tandem mirror plasma using a semiconductor detector array and an electrostatic energy analyzer
Temporally and spatially resolved soft x-ray and end-loss-electron analyses of the electron cyclotron heated plasmas are carried out by using a semiconductor detector array and an electrostatic energy analyzer in the GAMMA 10 tandem mirror. The flux and the energy spectrum of the end loss electrons are measured by a multi-grid energy analyzer. Recently, the electron cyclotron heating power modulation experiments have been started in order to generate and control the high heat flux and to make the edge localized mode-like intermittent heat load pattern for the divertor simulation studies by the use of these detectors for electron properties.
Active control of bright electron beams with RF optics for femtosecond microscopy
A frontier challenge in implementing femtosecond electron microscopy is to gain precise optical control of intense beams to mitigate collective space charge effects for significantly improving the throughput. Here, we explore the flexible uses of an RF cavity as a longitudinal lens in a high-intensity beam column for condensing the electron beams both temporally and spectrally, relevant to the design of ultrafast electron microscopy. Through the introduction of a novel atomic grating approach for characterization of electron bunch phase space and control optics, we elucidate the principles for predicting and controlling the phase space dynamics to reach optimal compressions at various electron densities and generating conditions. We provide strategies to identify high-brightness modes, achieving ∼100 fs and ∼1 eV resolutions with 106 electrons per bunch, and establish the scaling of performance for different bunch charges. These results benchmark the sensitivity and resolution from the fundamental beam brightness perspective and also validate the adaptive optics concept to enable delicate control of the density-dependent phase space structures to optimize the performance, including delivering ultrashort, monochromatic, high-dose, or coherent electron bunches.
Intrinsic quality factor extraction of multi-port cavity with arbitrary coupling
In this work, we derived S-parameter based expressions for the intrinsic quality factor of an arbitrary coupled multiport microwave cavity and a non-ideal test fixture. Practical accuracy limitations of the obtained expressions specifically for superconducting accelerator cavities were evaluated both analytically and with the simulation software. The resulting formulas can be used to extract the intrinsic quality factor of normal-conducting and superconducting cavities directly from the calibrated S-parameter measurements.
On the relative importance of the different initial conditions that seed the electrothermal instability
Electrothermal instability is responsible for degrading numerous applications of pulsed-power technology, yet the initial conditions from which it grows are not well understood. For the first time, metal surfaces have been tracked from characterization to self-emission. This reveals no clear correlation between non-uniform thermal emissions and surface metallurgical defects or crystallographic grains, while correlations are observed with surface topography for 5N metal but not 6061 metal. Finally, for 5N metal, surfaces with average roughness as small as 5nm still admit thermal perturbations with δT/T >0.1.
Influence of spatial beam inhomogeneities on the parameters of a petawatt laser system based on multi-stage parametric amplification
We have developed a technique for investigating the evolution of spatial inhomogeneities in high-power laser systems based on multi-stage parametric amplification. A linearised model of the inhomogeneity development is first devised for parametric amplification with the small-scale self-focusing taken into account. It is shown that the application of this model gives the results consistent (with high accuracy and in a wide range of inhomogeneity parameters) with the calculation without approximations. Using the linearised model, we have analysed the development of spatial inhomogeneities in a petawatt laser system based on multi-stage parametric amplification, developed at the Institute of Laser Physics, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (ILP SB RAS). (control of laser radiation parameters)
Beam-contamination-induced compositional alteration and its neutron-atypical consequences in ion simulation of neutron-induced void swelling
Although accelerator-based ion irradiation has been widely accepted to simulate neutron damage, neutron-atypical features need to be carefully investigated. In this study, we have shown that Coulomb force drag by ion beams can introduce significant amounts of carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen into target materials even under ultra-high vacuum conditions. The resulting compositional and microstructural changes dramatically suppress void swelling. By applying a beam-filtering technique, introduction of vacuum contaminants is greatly minimized and the true swelling resistance of the alloys is revealed and matches neutron behavior closely. These findings are a significant step toward developing standardized procedures for emulating neutron damage.