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Measurement of Stark-split beam and carbon charge exchange emissions for simultaneous B-field and temperature/rotation analysis at DIII-D
A set of two newly designed, single-channel Czerny–Turner spectrometers has been deployed at the DIII-D tokamak for measurements of the motional Stark effect (MSE) split beam emission and the C6+ (CVI) carbon charge exchange recombination (CER) emission at high spectral (δλ = 0.13 nm) and temporal (1–5 kHz) resolution. High throughput optics (f/# = 2.8) allow for good signal-to-noise at high time resolution using fast EMCCD detectors. The MSE emission allows for spectral fitting of the magnitude and direction of the local B-field, while the carbon emission yields local ion temperature and toroidal rotation information. To reduce so-called Doppler broadening of the MSE emission, a new channel-specific variable lens-masking approach has been developed. Experimental data collected from the 2023 DIII-D experimental campaign demonstrate the signal quality and instrument fidelity for both diagnostic measurements. Moreover, initial CER data analysis shows a clear evolution of the toroidal rotation during edge localized modes. Initial progress on the advanced MSE model, including a new validated ray-trace model of the DIII-D collection optics, is shown via sensitivity analysis.
High quality factor non-uniform metasurfaces
High quality factor electromagnetic metasurfaces are provided. The metasurface is configured to have in plane guided-mode resonances (e.g., corresponding to waveguide modes or the like). Coupling features are included in the metasurface that are configured to couple free-space radiation to the guided mode resonances. The resulting structures have a high-Q response to free-space radiation and can be used for various applications, such as beam splitting, beam steering, and beam focusing or defocusing.
Public Data Set: Spatial Heterodyne Spectroscopy for High Speed Measurements of Stark Split Neutral Beam Emission in a High Temperature Plasma
This public data set contains openly-documented, machine readable digital research data corresponding to figures published in M.G. Burke et al., 'Spatial Heterodyne Spectroscopy for High Speed Measurements of Stark Split Neutral Beam Emission in a High Temperature Plasma,' Review of Scientific Instruments 89, 10D114 (2018).
Spatial heterodyne spectroscopy for high speed measurements of Stark split neutral beam emission in a high temperature plasma
Measurement of electrostatic potential, or local electric field, turbulence is a critical missing component in validating nonlinear turbulence and transport simulations of fusion plasmas. A novel diagnostic is being developed for measuring local electric field fluctuations, $\sim\atop{E}$(r,t), via high-speed measurements of the light emitted from a hydrogenic neutral beam. It exploits the proportionality of the spectral line splitting from the Motional Stark Effect to the total electric field experienced by the neutral atom at the excitation site. The measurement is localized by the usual cross-beam geometry of beam-spectroscopy measurements. The corner stone of the diagnostic is a high spectral resolution, high etendue spatial heterodyne spectrometer (SHS). A SHS design with high etendue (~5 mm 2 sr) and resolution (~0.14 nm) meets the formidable spectrometer requirements. Field tests of the spectrometer at the DIII-D tokamak demonstrate that the beam emission spectrum produced by the SHS agrees with that of a traditional spectrometer and that the measured flux is adequate for turbulence studies.
Arrays of glass wedges for multi-dimensional optical diagnostics
There is a common need in the advancement of optical diagnostic techniques to increase the dimensionality of measurements. For example, point measurements could be improved to multi-point, line, planar, volumetric, or time-resolved volumetric measurements. In this work, a unique optical element is presented to enable multi-dimensional measurements, namely, an array of glass wedges. A light source is passed through the wedges, and different portions of the illumination are refracted by different amounts depending on the glass wedge angle. Subsequent optics can be used to focus the light to multiple points, lines, or planes. Basic characterization of a glass wedge array is presented. Additional wedge-array configurations are discussed, including the use of a periodic intensity mask for multi-planar measurements via structured illumination. The utility of this optical element is briefly demonstrated in (a) multi-planar flame particulate measurements, (b) multi-point femtosecond-laser electronic excitation tagging for flow velocimetry, and (c) multi-line nitric oxide molecular tagging velocimetry in a hypersonic shock-tunnel. One significant advantage of this optical component is its compatibility with high-energy laser sources, which may be a limiting factor with other beam-splitting or beam-forming elements such as some diffractive optics. Additionally, an array of glass wedges is simple and easily customizable compared to other methods for forming multiple closely spaced illumination patterns. In conclusion, suggestions for further development and applications are discussed.
Coherent-state quantum cryptography using pseudorandom number generators
Quantum key distribution plays an important role in modern cryptography, since the security of the transmitted keys is guaranteed by fundamental laws of nature. A method using pseudorandom number generators well known from classical cryptography is considered. It is shown that their use in quantum cryptography makes it possible to increase the key generation rate under very weak assumptions about the capabilities of the eavesdropper. A practical scheme of a coherent-state quantum key distribution protocol using pseudorandom sequences is proposed. The cryptographic strength of the proposed protocol against a beam-splitting attack is considered. (quantum cryptography)
Are There Enough Decoy States to Ensure Key Secrecy in Quantum Cryptography?
The decoy state method has been proposed to detect a photon number splitting (PNS) attack. Today, the decoy state method is considered to be an almost universal method for proving the secrecy of quantum cryptography protocols and calculating the length of a secret key. In this paper, it is shown that there exist attacks, for example, a beam splitting (BS) attack, to which the decoy state method turns out to be insensitive. The decoy state method is oriented to the detection of changes in the photocount statistics of information states and decoy states under a PNS attack. Under a BS attack, the photocount statistics is not changed. As a result, the decoy state method significantly overestimates the length of the key. Thus, the decoy state method is not a universal method that allows the detection of various attacks. Apparently, due to a large number of publications on the decoy state method, a widespread opinion has been formed that this method is universal. This fact has led to attempts to adopt this method as an international standard in quantum cryptography, which is clearly premature.
Full wave modeling of radio-frequency beams in tokamaks in the electron cyclotron frequency range
Simulation of full wave, without paraxial approximation, high-resolution solution of wave equations in frequency domain in the electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) frequency range for realistic Tokamak plasma parameters became possible by using recently formulated hybrid iterative algorithm [Svidzinski et al., Phys. Plasmas 25, 082509 (2018)] for numerically solving discretized wave equations. This approach combines time evolution and iterative relaxation techniques into iteration cycles. This algorithm is implemented in 2D code FullWave, solving wave equations in Tokamaks in cold and hot plasma models, and it has been tested in 3D full wave iterative RF beams simulation tool, which is presently being developed to model 3D ECRH RF beams in fusion devices using dynamic grid adaptation. The results of 2D full wave modeling, assuming specified toroidal mode number, of ECRH RF beams in DIII-D plasma, performed in the cold and hot plasma models for outboard and top launch scenarios using FullWave are presented. Nonlocal hot plasma response model, based on accurate numerical solution of linearized Vlasov equation, is used to model beam propagation and absorption in the 2nd electron cyclotron harmonic region. Demonstration of capability of the hybrid iterative algorithm to model ECRH RF beams in 3D is made by simulating a substantial part of realistic beam in DIII-D, launched from outboard side of the machine. All relevant physics of RF beam propagation, most of which is not captured in paraxial approximation, such as beam's divergence, interference between the X and O modes in the beam, X-O mode conversion, beam splitting into the X and O mode beams, transformation of beam's cross section, and absorption at the 2nd electron cyclotron harmonic, is captured in the simulations. A numerical technique to find an optimal beam polarization at the launcher to launch a nearly pure X or O mode beam in plasma is developed and tested.
Summary of RF Technology Program Activities, October 2013 - September 2017
The goals of the National RF Research and Development Program (NRRDP) are to advance the basic understanding of high-power radio frequency (RF) in a plasma environment, and to maintain the high-power transmitters and cooling water systems required to support the ITER Ion Cylcotron Range of Frequencies (ICRF) transmission line high power component testing and operation of the Proto-Material Plasma Exposure eXperiment (MPEX) device. The work includes the study of the RF sheath, and development of RF-related diagnostics. These include active and passive spectroscopic diagnostics that can provide local and line integrated measurements of RF and Direct Current (DC) electric fields in the edge plasma of fusion devices, as well as measurements of other parameters. One of these, the Doppler Free Saturation Spectroscopy (DFSS) diagnostic, utilizes a laser beam split into two intersecting, counter-propagating pump and probe beams, whose intersection defines the measurement region. DFSS has demonstrated measurements of atomic spectra with 500 times greater resolution than passive Optical Emission Spectroscopy (OES). This allows Stark effect based electric field measurements to be made with two orders of magnitude high sensitivity than with OES. Measurements have been made using an ORNL electron-cyclotron resonant (ECR) plasma source producing densities up to 10 19 m -3 , in the vicinity of an RF-biased planar electrode.
Post-DTL Beam Delivery
Ensuring that the beam delivered from the upgraded Front-End (FE) meets the Key Performance Parameters (KPPs) at each user facility is critical to the success of the LANSCE Accelerator Modernization Project (LAMP). For a high-intensity, multi-user facility like LANSCE, compliance with beam loss and radiation thresholds is as important as the charge delivered to each target. While early LAMPF/LANSCE operations relied on iterative tuning to minimize losses from beam halo and tail particles, the new FE may introduce different beam distributions and loss modes—making predictive modeling essential. To manage this, the F2E (Front-End to End) effort is developing detailed particle-tracking models that reflect realistic beamline conditions, including halo formation and expected diagnostic readings. These "snapshot" simulations aim to benchmark live machine performance at a given moment. This will help quantify how beam quality from the new FE will propagate downstream through the facility. Only by validating these models can we confidently assess and mitigate the potential impacts of the LAMP FE on beam delivery. Post-DTL, the beam splits to serve five major user facilities. Historically, low-energy beam transport has been modeled using TRACE, and higher-energy sections with TRANSPORT. These have now been unified into MAD-X format and validated with codes such as Elegant, pyOrbit, XSuite, Impact-Z, and HPSim. The primary focus now is on accurate modeling of full particle distributions (including beam halo) as they traverse the accelerator and beamlines to each experimental station. All models are at various stages of validation with empirical data.
Photon-shot-noise-limited transient absorption soft X-ray spectroscopy at the European XFEL
Femtosecond transient soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) is a very promising technique that can be employed at X-ray free-electron lasers (FELs) to investigate out-of-equilibrium dynamics for material and energy research. Here, a dedicated setup for soft X-rays available at the Spectroscopy and Coherent Scattering (SCS) instrument at the European X-ray Free-Electron Laser (European XFEL) is presented. It consists of a beam-splitting off-axis zone plate (BOZ) used in transmission to create three copies of the incoming beam, which are used to measure the transmitted intensity through the excited and unexcited sample, as well as to monitor the incoming intensity. Since these three intensity signals are detected shot by shot and simultaneously, this setup allows normalized shot-by-shot analysis of the transmission. For photon detection, an imaging detector capable of recording up to 800 images at 4.5 MHz frame rate during the FEL burst is employed, and allows a photon-shot-noise-limited sensitivity to be approached. The setup and its capabilities are reviewed as well as the online and offline analysis tools provided to users.
Implementation of a Wollaston interferometry diagnostic on OMEGA EP
Here, a Wollaston interferometer is presented for use in measuring the electron density of plasma plumes created in experiments on the OMEGA EP laser system. The diagnostic is installed as an additional arm on the 4ω probe system, a suite of diagnostics that share a 10 ps pulse of 263 nm laser light captured by an imaging system at f /4. The interferometer utilizes a Wollaston prism to create two angularly separated beams from a single input probe beam, split at any angle between 0° and 90°. This configuration is implemented uniquely such that fringe spacing may be altered independently of field of view, magnification, and imaging resolution, from a range of 17 to 76 μm/fringe. The region of overlap between the two beams forms a total field of view of approximately 1.2 × 1.6 mm at the target chamber center with an imaging resolution of 5 μm. Using this configuration, here it is shown that plasma density may be accurately characterized over a range of 3 × 10 18 –1 × 10 20 cm -3 .
Compact hard x-ray split-delay system based on variable-gap channel-cut crystals
We present the concept and a prototypical implementation of a compact x-ray split-delay system that is capable of performing continuous on-the-fly delay scans over a range of ~10 ps with sub-100 nanoradian pointing stability. The system consists of four channel-cut silicon crystals, two of which have gradually varying gap sizes from intentional 5 deg asymmetric cuts. The delay adjustment is realized by linear motions of these two monolithic varying-gap channel cuts, where the x-ray beam experiences pairs of anti-parallel reflections, and thus becomes less sensitive in output beam pointing to motion imperfections of the translation stages. The beam splitting is accomplished by polished crystal edges. A high degree of mutual coherence between the two branches at the focus is observed by analyzing small-angle coherent x-ray scattering patterns. We envision a wide range of applications including single-shot x-ray pulse temporal diagnostics, studies of high-intensity x-ray–matter interactions, as well as measurement of dynamics in disordered material systems using split-pulse x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy.
A transmissive concentrator photovoltaic module with cells directly cooled by silicone oil for solar cogeneration systems
Hybrid concentrator photovoltaic-thermal systems can cogenerate electricity and heat by beam-splitting incoming concentrated light onto photovoltaic cells and a thermal receiver to increase total conversion efficiency and potentially reduce system cost. To demonstrate this, we have designed and prototyped a transmissive spectrum-splitting concentrator photovoltaic module that maximizes solar energy conversion by utilizing the entire solar spectrum. Visible light is collected using infrared-transmissive triple-junction photovoltaic cells to achieve an in-band module efficiency of 43.3% for light of wavelength λ < 873 nm, while 44.2% of out-of-band light with λ > 873 nm is transmitted through for collection by a thermal receiver. During testing on a dual-axis tracked parabolic concentrator dish at up to 166 suns, cell temperatures were maintained at 119 °C or below via a novel active cooling method. This cooling system strictly flows silicone oil directly across both sides of the cells, without inhibiting optical transmission, as verified through experimentation and simulation. The module was validated outdoors for 572 sun·hrs, and achieved a maximum thermal receiver temperature of 180 °C. 86.1% of incident solar power is collected at 166 suns average concentration collectively among the electrical, cooling, and thermal receiver subsystems. The remaining 13.9% is lost to mirror reflectivity, dish shadowing, receiver reflection, and thermal losses. The ability to directly cool the cells with an inert silicone oil offers the potential for reduced system cost relative to previous transmissive hybrid concentrator photovoltaic-thermal systems, including microfluidic-cooled designs. This solar cogeneration capability is valuable in a wide range of commercial and industrial applications.
Improved experimental and diagnostic techniques for dynamic tensile stress–strain measurement with a Kolsky tension bar
Kolsky tension bar experiments were improved for dynamic tensile stress–strain measurements with higher fidelity and minimal uncertainties. The difficulties associated with specimen gripping, relatively short gage section, and geometric discontinuity at the bar ends all compromise the accuracy of the traditional strain measurement method in a Kolsky tension bar experiment. Here in this study, an improved three-channel splitting-beam laser extensometer technique was developed to directly and independently track the displacement of the incident and transmission bar interfaces. By adopting a dual-channel configuration on the incident bar side, the resolution and measurement range of this laser extensometer were coordinated between the two channels to provide highly precise measurement at both small and large strains under high strain-rate loading condition. On the transmission bar side an amplified channel, similar to that used on the incident bar side, was adopted to measure the transmission bar displacement with high resolution. With this novel design, a maximum resolution of approximately 500 nm can be obtained for the bar displacement measurement, which corresponds to a strain of 0.0079% for a specimen with 6.35 mm gage length. To further improve the accuracy, a pair of lock nuts were used to tighten the tensile specimen to the bars in an effort not only to prevent the specimen from potential pre-torsional deformation and damage during installation, but also to provide better thread engagement between the specimen and the bar ends. As a demonstration of this technique, dynamic tensile stress–strain response of a 304L stainless steel was characterized with high resolution in both elastic and plastic deformations.
20-24 GeV FFA CEBAF Energy Upgrade
A proposal was formulated to increase the CEBAF energy from the present 12 GeV to 20-24 GeV by replacing the highest-energy arcs with Fixed Field Alternating Gradient (FFA) arcs. The new pair of arcs would provide six or seven new beam passes, going through this magnet array, allowing the energy to be nearly doubled using the existing CEBAF SRF cavity system. One of the immediate accelerator design tasks is to develop a proof-of-principle FFA arc magnet lattice that would support simultaneous transport of 6-7 passes with energies spanning a factor of two. We also examine the possibility of using combined function magnets to configure a cascade, six-way beam split switchyard. Finally, a novel multi-pass linac optics based on a weakly focusing lattice is being explored.
CEBAF FFA Energy Upgrade
Encouraged by recent success of CBETA, a proposal was formulated to increase the CEBAF energy from the present 12 GeV to 20-24 GeV by replacing the highest-energy arcs with Fixed Field Alternating Gradient (FFA) arcs. The new pair of arcs would provide six or seven new beam passes, going through this magnet array, allowing the energy to be nearly doubled using the existing CEBAF SRF cavity system. One of the immediate accelerator design tasks is to develop a proof-of-principle FFA arc magnet lattice that would support simultaneous transport of 6-7 passes, with energies spanning a factor of two. We also examine a possibility of using combined function magnets to configure a cascade, six-way beam split switchyard. Finally, a novel, multi-pass linac optics based on a triplet focusing lattice is being explored.