Optimum target orientation in nuclear reaction experiments
Energy spread in outgoing particles from nuclear reaction due to finite target thickness - optimum target orientation in nuclear reactor experiments
NUCLEAR REACTION↗
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A Preliminary Investigation of High-speed Impact: the Penetration of Small Spheres into Thick Copper Targets
Small metal spheres of various densities were fired at high speed into thick targets of copper and lead. In general, it was found that all of the penetrations could be correlated quite well for engineering purposes by a function relating the depth of penetration to the impact momentum per unit volume.
Charters, A C↗
Energy of microwave-emitting electrons and hard x-ray/microwave source model in solar flares
Based on the rate of increse of the microwave flux relative to the hard X-ray flux at various energies from the onset to the peak of a flare, the mean energy of microwave-emitting electrons is estimated for 22 flares observed simultaneously in hard X-rays and microwaves. The energy of electrons varying in proportion to the 17 GHz emission is found to concentrate below 100 keV, and the mean energy or eletrons emitting 70 keV x-rays is less than about 130 keV for thin-target and less than about 180 keV for thick-target emission models, suggesting that the 17 GHz emission derives from electrons with energy of less than a few hundred keV. The magnetic field strength in the microwave source is found to be 500-1000 G for the thick-target and 1000-2000 G for the thin-target case, and 16 of the 22 events examined can be successfully explained by the thick-target model. Of the six events which cannot be explained by the thick-target model, two events give L of less than about 300 km.
Nitta, N.↗
Transmission of 2.43 MeV electrons through thick silicon targets
Angular and energy distribution measurements of electrons transmitted through thick silicon targets
Singh, J. J.↗
Electron transmission through thick silicon targets
Angular and energy distribution measurements of fast electrons transmitted through thick silicon targets compared with multiple Coulomb electron scattering
ELECTRON SCATTERING↗
Impulsive phase of solar flares
The present understanding of the impulsive phase of a solar flare, characterized by short-duration bursts of impulsive hard X-ray, EUV, optical and radio emission indicating the release of energetic electrons is reviewed. Observations of the spectral distribution of impulsive hard X-ray bursts and of Type III and radio continuum bursts are presented and interpreted in terms of energetic electron distributions, and impulsive EUV, XUV, soft X-ray and optical observations, which provide a lower limit to total energy release during the impulsive phase, are discussed. The role of energetic electrons in exciting the hard X-ray, EUV and microwave emissions is considered, and thin-target, thick-target, partial-precipitation and thermal models of impulsive phase electron acceleration are evaluated in light of the observations. It is noted that available data do not allow discrimination between a thermal or a nonthermal electron distribution, on which depends the proportion of flare energy supplied by the energetic electrons, and that data favors models which permit at least partial electron precipitation. Future observational and theoretical work is indicated.
Kane, S. R.↗
Energetics and dynamics in a large solar flare of 1989 March
Solar Maximum Mission X-ray observations and National Solar Observatory/Sacramento Peak H alpha spectra are combined in a large (X1.2) solar flare to test predictions of chromospheric heating and evaporation by nonthermal thick-target electrons. It is demonstrated that the ratio of H alpha flare energy flux to the energy flux deposited by thick-target electrons obeys a power-law dependence on electron heating flux, with a slope that is consistent with that predicted by a thick-target electron transport and heating model in a 1D hydrostatic atmosphere. It is concluded that the thick-target model satisfactorily accounts for the observed magnitude of chromospheric H alpha emission, and the amplitudes and timing of oppositely directed plasma motions during the impulsive phase of this X flare.
Wulser, Jean-Pierre↗
X-ray spectra produced when thick silicon targets are bombarded with 1.05 and 1.25 million volts electrons
Measurements of X-rays produced when thick silicon targets are bombarded with 1.05 and 1.25 MeV electrons and comparison to Bethe-Heitler theory
SILICON↗
Cratering and penetration experiments in Teflon targets at velocities from 1 to 7 km/s
Approximately 20 sq m of protective thermal blankets, largely composed of Teflon, were retrieved from the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) after the spacecraft had spent approximately 5.7 years in space. Examination of these blankets revealed that they contained thousands of hypervelocity impact features ranging from micron-sized craters to penetration holes several millimeters in diameter. We conducted impact experiments in an effort to reproduce such features and to -- hopefully -- understand the relationships between projectile size and the resulting crater or penetration-hole diameter over a wide range of impact velocity. Such relationships are needed to derive the size- and mass-frequency distribution and flux of natural and man-made particles in low-Earth orbit. Powder propellant and light-gas guns were used to launch soda-lime glass spheres of 3.175 mm (1/8 inch) nominal diameter (Dp) into pure Teflon FEP targets at velocities ranging from 1 to 7 km/s. Target thickness (T) was varied over more than three orders of magnitude from infinite halfspace targets (Dp/T less than 0.1) to very thin films (Dp/T greater than 100). Cratering and penetration of massive Teflon targets is dominated by brittle failure and the development of extensive spall zones at the target's front and, if penetrated, the target's rear side. Mass removal by spallation at the back side of Teflon targets may be so severe that the absolute penetration-hole diameter (Dh) can become larger than that of a standard crater (Dc) at relative target thicknesses of Dp/T = 0.6-0.9. The crater diameter is infinite halfspace Teflon targets increases -- at otherwise constant impact conditions -- with encounter velocity by a factor of V0.44. In contrast, the penetration-hole size is very thin foils (Dp/T greater than 50) is essentially unaffected by impact velocity. Penetrations at target thicknesses intermediate to these extremes will scale with variable exponents of V. Our experimental matrix is sufficiently systematic and complete, up to 7 km/s, to make reasonable recommendations for the velocity-scaling of Teflon craters and penetrations. We specifically suggest that cratering behavior and associated equations dominate all impacts in which the shock-pulse duration of the projectile (tp) is shorter than that of the target (tt). We also demonstrate that each penetration hole from space-retrieved surfaces may be assigned a unique projectile size, provided an impact velocity is known or assumed. This calibration seems superior to the traditional ballistic-limit approach.
Hoerz, Friedrich↗
Monte Carlo calculations of residual nuclei production in thick iron targets bombarded by 1- and 3-Gev protons and comparison with experiment.
Spatial distribution of residual nuclei produced in thick Fe targets by one and three Gev protons, noting total production and longitudinal variation of production
Armstrong, T. W.↗
The solar flare extreme ultraviolet to hard X-ray ratio
Simultaneous measurements of the peak 10-1030 A extreme ultraviolet (EUV) flux enhancement and more than 10 keV hard X-ray (HXR) peak flux of many solar flare bursts, ranging over about four orders of magnitude in HXR intensity, are studied. A real departure from linearity is found in the relationship between the peak EUV and HXR fluxes in impulsive flare bursts. This relationship is well described by a given power law. Comparison of the predictions of the impulsive nonthermal thick-target electron beam model with observations shows that the model satisfactorily predicts the observed time differences between the HXR and EUV peaks and explains the data very well under given specific assumptions. It is concluded that the high-energy fluxes implied by the invariant area thick-target model cannot be completely ruled out, while the invariant area model with smaller low cutoff requires impossibly large beam densities. A later alternative thick-target model is suggested.
Mcclymont, A. N.↗
The excitation of the iron K-alpha feature in solar flares
The relationship between the hard X-ray photon spectrum and the flux of iron K-alpha emission in a thick-target electron bombardment model is evaluated. Results are presented for various power-law hard X-ray spectra. These results are applied to two events observed with the Hard X-Ray Burst Spectrometer and the K-alpha channel of the X-Ray Polychromator Bent Crystal Spectrometer on the Solar Maximum Mission satellite. For one of the events, on March 29, 1980, at 09:18 UT, the K-alpha flux predicted for a thick-target nonthermal process is significant compared to the background fluorescent component, and the data are indeed consistent with an enhancement of the predicted amount. For the other event, on October 14, 1980 at 0.6:09 UT, the hard X-ray spectrum is so steep that no significant K-alpha flux is predicted for this process, and no enhancement is seen. It is concluded that the agreement between the predicted K-alpha flux and the observed magnitude of the K-alpha enhancement above the fluorescent background at the time of the large hard X-ray bursts lends support to a thick-target nonthermal interpretation of impulsive hard X-ray emission in solar flares.
Emslie, A. G.↗
Combined analysis of soft and hard X-ray spectra from flares
An attempt is made to develop a self-consistent model which accounts for the line and continuum data generated by the three X-ray imaging instruments on the SMM satellite. The intensities measured covered the 4-500 kV energy range. The model is based on a differential emission measure and electron beam parameters and is used to predict absolute signals detected by the 15 channels of the SMM sensors. Consideration is given to the thermal contribution, instrumental characteristics, thin target excitation and thick target bremsstrahlung. In comparison with data from a flare event on June 29, 1980, model predictions provide a good fit, including the identification of hard electrons with a 5.3 index during the impulsive phase.
Gabriel, A. H.↗
Solar flare gamma-ray line shapes
A computer code has been developed which is used to calculate ab initio the laboratory shapes and energy shifts of gamma-ray lines from (C-12)(p, gamma/4.438/)p-prime(C-12) and (O-16)(p, gamma/6.129/)p-prime(O-16) reactions and to calculate the expected shapes of these lines from solar flares. The sensitivity of observable solar flare gamma-ray line shapes to the directionality of the incident particles is investigated for several projectile angular distributions. Shapes of the carbon and oxygen lines are calculated assuming realistic proton energy spectra for particles in circular orbits at the mirror points of magnetic loops, for particle beams directed downward into the photosphere, and for isotropic particle distributions. Line shapes for flare sites near the center of the sun and on the limb are shown for both thin-target and thick-target interaction models.
Werntz, C.↗
Cratering and penetration experiments in teflon targets at velocities from 1 to 7 km/s
Approximately 20 sq m of protective thermal blankets, largely composed of Teflon, were retrieved from the Long Duration Exposure Facility after the spacecraft spent approximately 5.7 years in space. Examination of these blankets revealed that they contained thousands of hypervelocity impact features ranging from micron-sized craters to penetration holes several millimeters in diameter. We conducted impact experiments to reproduce such features and to understand the relationships between projectile size and the resulting crater or penetration hole diameter over a wide range of impact velocities. Such relationships are needed to derive the size and mass frequency distribution and flux of natural and man-made particles in low-earth orbit. Powder propellant and light-gas guns were used to launch soda-lime glass spheres into pure Teflon targets at velocities ranging from 1 to 7 km/s. Target thickness varied over more than three orders of magnitude from finite halfspace targets to very thin films. Cratering and penetration of massive Teflon targets is dominated by brittle failure and the development of extensive spall zones at the target's front and, if penetrated, the target's rear side. Mass removal by spallation at the back side of Teflon targets may be so severe that the absolute penetration hole diameter can become larger than that of a standard crater. The crater diameter in infinite halfspace Teflon targets increases, at otherwise constant impact conditions, with encounter velocity by a factor of V (exp 0.44). In contrast, the penetration hole size in very thin foils is essentially unaffected by impact velocity. Penetrations at target thicknesses intermediate to these extremes will scale with variable exponents of V. Our experimental matrix is sufficiently systematic and complete, up to 7 km/s, to make reasonable recommendations for velocity-scaling of Teflon craters and penetrations. We specifically suggest that cratering behavior and associated equations apply to all impacts in which the shock-pulse duration of the projectile is shorter than that assigned a unique projectile size, provided an impact velocity is known or assumed. This calibration seems superior to the traditional ballistic-limit approach.
Horz, Friedrich↗
Study of meteoroid impact craters on various materials (AO 138-1). Attempt at dust debris collection with stacked detectors (AO 138-2)
Part of the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) tray allocated to French experiments, known as FRECOPA payload, was devoted to the study of dust particles. Two passive experiments were flown: one composed of a set of glass and metallic samples and one composed of multilayer thin foils detectors. In addition to these experiments, a broad variety of materials were exposed to the bombardment of microparticles and provide more data. Thick target experiment comprises selected metallic (Al, Au, Cu, W, Stainless Steel) 250 microns thick and glass surfaces 1.5 mm thick. Crater size distribution from these thick target experiments enable, with the aid of lab calibrations by solid particle accelerators, the evaluation of the incident microparticle flux in the near earth environment. The aim of the multiple foil penetration and collection experiment is primarily to study the feasibility of multilayer thin film detectors acting as energy sorters in order to collect micrometeoroids, if not in their original shape, at least as 'breakup' fragments suitable for chemical analysis. Foil thicknesses range from 0.75 to 5 microns of Al.
Mandeville, Jean Claude↗
Shielded Heavy-Ion Environment Linear Detector (SHIELD): an experiment for the Radiation and Technology Demonstration (RTD) Mission
Radiological assessment of the many cosmic ion species of widely distributed energies requires the use of theoretical transport models to accurately describe diverse physical processes related to nuclear reactions in spacecraft structures, planetary atmospheres and surfaces, and tissues. Heavy-ion transport models that were designed to characterize shielded radiation fields have been validated through comparison with data from thick-target irradiation experiments at particle accelerators. With the RTD Mission comes a unique opportunity to validate existing radiation transport models and guide the development of tools for shield design. For the first time, transport properties will be measured in free-space to characterize the shielding effectiveness of materials that are likely to be aboard interplanetary space missions. Target materials composed of aluminum, advanced composite spacecraft structure and other shielding materials, helium (a propellant) and tissue equivalent matrices will be evaluated. Large solid state detectors will provide kinetic energy and charge identification for incident heavy-ions and for secondary ions created in the target material. Transport calculations using the HZETRN model suggest that 8 g cm -2 thick targets would be adequate to evaluate the shielding effectiveness during solar minimum activity conditions for a period of 30 days or more.
NASA Center LaRC↗
Understanding Breaks in Flare X-Ray Spectra: Evaluation of a Cospatial Collisional Return-Current Model
Hard X-ray (HXR) spectral breaks are explained in terms of a one-dimensional model with a cospatial return current. We study 19 flares observed by the Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager with strong spectral breaks at energies around a few deka-keV, which cannot be explained by isotropic albedo or non-uniform ionization alone. We identify these breaks at the HXR peak time, but we obtain 8 s cadence spectra of the entire impulsive phase. Electrons with an initially power-law distribution and a sharp low-energy cutoff lose energy through return-current losses until they reach the thick target, where they lose their remaining energy through collisions. Our main results are as follows. (1) The return-current collisional thick-target model provides acceptable fits for spectra with strong breaks. (2) Limits on the plasma resistivity are derived from the fitted potential drop and deduced electron-beam flux density, assuming the return current is a drift current in the ambient plasma. These resistivities are typically 2-3 orders of magnitude higher than the Spitzer resistivity at the fitted temperature, and provide a test for the adequacy of classical resistivity and the stability of the return current. (3) Using the upper limit of the low-energy cutoff, the return current is always stable to the generation of ion-acoustic and electrostatic ion-cyclotron instabilities when the electron temperature is nine times lower than the ion temperature. (4) In most cases, the return current is most likely primarily carried by runaway electrons from the tail of the thermal distribution rather than by the bulk drifting thermal electrons. For these cases, anomalous resistivity is not required.
Alaoui, Meriem↗