A high power beam-on-target test of liquid lithium target for RIA.

Abstract

Experiments were conducted to demonstrate the stable operation of a windowless liquid lithium target under extreme thermal loads that are equivalent to uranium beams from the proposed Rare Isotope Accelerator (RIA) driver linac. The engineering and safety issues accompanying liquid lithium systems are first discussed. The liquid metal technology knowledge base generated primarily for fast reactors, and liquid metal cooled fusion reactors, was applied to the development of these systems in a nuclear physics laboratory setting. The use of a high energy electron beam for simulating a high power uranium beam produced by the RIA driver linac is also described. Calculations were performed to obtain energy deposition profiles produced by electron beams at up to a few MeV to compare with expected uranium beam energy deposition profiles. It was concluded that an experimental simulation using a 1-MeV electron beam would be a valuable tool to assess beam-jet interaction. In the experiments, the cross section of the windowless liquid lithium target was 5 mm x 10 mm, which is a 1/3rd scale prototype target, and the velocity of the liquid lithium was varied up to 6 m/s. Thermal loads up to 20 kW within a beam spot diameter of 1mm were applied on the windowless liquid lithium target by the 1-MeV electron beam. The calculations showed that the maximum power density and total power deposited within the target, from the electron beam, was equivalent to that of a 200-kW, 400-MeV/u uranium beam. It was demonstrated that the windowless liquid lithium target flowing at velocities as low as 1.8 m/s stably operated under beam powers up to 20 kW without disruption or excessive vaporization.