Acceleration of Macroscopic Particle to Hypervelocity by High-Intensity Beams

Abstract

Hypervelocity (~1000-km/s) impact of a macroscopic particle (macron) has profound influences in high energy density physics and inertial fusion energy researches. As the charge-mass ratio of macrons is too low, the length of an electrostatic accelerator can reach hundreds to thousands of kilometers, rendering macron acceleration impractical. To reduce the accelerator length, a much higher electric field than what the most powerful klystrons can provide is desired. One practical choice may be the high-intensity charged particle beam ldquoblowing-piperdquo approach. In this approach, a high-intensity (~10-kA) medium-energy (0.5-2-MeV) long-pulse (10-1000-mus) positively charged ion beam shots to a heavily charged millimeter-size macron to create a local high-strength electric field (~1010 V/m), accelerating the macron efficiently. We will discuss the physics and challenges involved in this concept and give an illustrative simulation.