High Current Beam Research Articles

Development of a water-cooled scintillation screen for high-current beam profiling

This study aimed to develop a scintillation screen monitor for high-current ion beam profiling. It was observed that the conventional scintillation screen is unable to meet the requirements of medium- and high-power accelerators due to the beam damaging the screen and preventing it from functioning properly. Consequently, a water-cooled tantalum-copper composite plate was adopted as the target head and coated with potassium bromide powder. The scintillating screen monitor employs the direct intercept method to observe the beam profile and position recorded by a CCD camera. A water-cooled beam profile monitoring system was manufactured and subjected to preliminary experimental tests on an electron accelerator. The results indicate that the screen monitor exhibits good luminescence, and high resolution, and is capable of effectively evaluating the beam position and profile.

Plasma burn-mind the gap.

The programme to design plasma scenarios for the Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP), a reactor concept aiming at net electricity production, seeks to exploit the inherent advantages of the spherical tokamak (ST) while making conservative assumptions about plasma performance. This approach is motivated by the large gap between present-day STs and future burning plasmas based on this concept. It is concluded that plasma exhaust in such a device is most likely to be manageable in a double null (DN) configuration, and that high core performance is favoured by positive triangularity (PT) plasmas with an elevated central safety factor. Based on a full technical and physics assessment of external heating and current drive (CD) systems, it was decided that the external CD is provided most effectively by microwaves. Operation with active resistive wall mode (RWM) stabilization as well as high elongation is needed for the most compact solution. The gap between existing devices and STEP is most pronounced in the area of core transport, owing to high normalized plasma pressure in the latter which changes qualitatively the nature of the turbulence controlling transport. Plugging this gap will require dedicated experiments, particularly on high-performance STs, and the development of reduced models that faithfully represent turbulent transport at high normalized pressure. Plasma scenarios in STEP will also need to be such that edge localized modes (ELMs) either do not occur or are small enough to be compatible with material lifetime limits. The high current needed for a power plant-relevant plasma leads to the unavoidable generation of high runaway electron beam current during a disruption, where novel mitigation techniques may be needed. This article is part of the theme issue 'Delivering Fusion Energy - The Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP)'.

Upper-hybrid oscillations of high current relativistic electron beam under conditions of magnetic self-insulation

Upper-hybrid oscillations of high current relativistic electron beam under conditions of magnetic self-insulation

Design and characterisation of a minibeam collimator utilising Monte Carlo simulation and a clinical linear accelerator

Objective. Spatially fractionated radiotherapy is showing promise as a treatment modality. Initial focus was on beams of photons at low energy produced from a synchrotron but more recently research has expanded to include applications in proton therapy. Interest in photon beams remains and this is the focus of this paper Approach. This study presents a 3D printed tungsten minibeam collimator intended to produce peak-to-valley dose ratios (PVDR) of between seven and ten with a 1 MV, bremsstrahlung generated, photon beam. The design of the collimator is motivated by a Monte Carlo study estimating the PVDR for different collimator designs at different energies. This collimator was characterised on a clinical linear accelerator (Elekta VersaHD) as well as an orthovoltage unit. Main results. The performance of the fabricated collimator was measured on Elekta VersaHD running in unflattened mode with a 6 MV beam. On the Elekta VersaHD units the PVDR was measured to be between approximately 1.5 and 2.0 at 3 cm deep. For measurements with the orthovoltage unit PVDRs of greater than 10 were observed at a depth of 4 cm. Significance. The results confirmed that the predictions from simulation could be reproduced on linear accelerators currently in clinical usage, producing PVDRs between 2–2.5. Using the model to predict PVDRs using 1 MV photon beams, the threshold considered to produce enhanced normal tissue dose tolerance ( > 7) was surpassed. This suggests the possibility of using such techniques with versions of existing Linac technology which have been modified to operate at low energy and high beam currents.

Pathways to exploit the multi-spot scanning strategy in electron beam additive manufacturing for control of microstructure and defect density

The goal of this study is to investigate the impact of beam deflection pattern characteristics on microstructure and porosity formation during Powder Bed Fusion Electron Beam Melting (PBF-EB/M) processing of Inconel 718. Specifically, the complex interplay between “beam return time” and “beam jump distance” and their influence on heat accumulation, porosity, and grain formation is explored. The findings reveal that beam jump distance plays a critical role in the transition from columnar to equiaxed solidification, while beam return time is essential for achieving optimal heat accumulation and minimizing porosity. By controlling these two universal beam deflection pattern characteristics, a novel multi-spot scanning strategy was developed, enabling the formation of a fine-grained equiaxed microstructure. It is demonstrated that sufficient heat accumulation is essential for a pore-free bulk material and can be achieved by short beam return times or small beam jump distances. However, for equiaxed grain formation, a large beam jump distance, i.e., a wide distribution of melt pools, is required. Therefore, heat accumulation must be controlled by means of the beam return time if equiaxed grains are aimed for. Additionally, it is found that higher beam currents are beneficial for equiaxed grain formation, but the strongest impact on the columnar to equiaxed transition is attributed to the beam movement pattern itself. This approach offers insights into microstructure control and process reliability, regardless of the specific PBF technique employed, and enables application-specific microstructure design of Inconel 718.

Validation activities at ENEA Brasimone in support of the IFMIF-DONES design

IFMIF-DONES is a powerful neutron source which is being designed with the main purpose of qualifying structural materials (EUROFER being the first candidate) to be used in DEMO and fusion power plants envisaged after it. This source relies on one high current (125 mA) deuterons beam accelerated to 40 MeV which impacts on a liquid lithium target to produce an intense neutron flux through Li(d,n) stripping reactions able to simulate the nuclear responses expected on the first wall of the reactor. The engineering design of IFMIF-DONES is presently being carried out mainly in the framework of the EUROfusion Work Package Early Neutron Source (WPENS). Since 2021, a new phase has started with the launch of the FP9 WPENS workplan whose objective is to continue advancing the engineering design of the facility, putting special effort on the experimental validation of those aspects which still need to be qualified to demonstrate the fulfillment of functional and safety requirements. The ENEA Brasimone Research Centre has been and still is strongly committed in several validation tasks concerned in particular with the lithium systems design and the Remote Handling (RH) maintenance.In this paper, an overview of the most relevant validation activities carried out in recent years or still in progress or planned at the ENEA Brasimone Research Centre in both of the aforementioned areas is presented, including the erosion/corrosion tests in the Lifus 6 loop; the nitrogen-gettering materials qualification in the ANGEL facility; and the RH and prototypes testing in the DRP laboratory for the validation of the High Flux Test Module electric connectors and the pre-heating of the Target Assembly.

Two-dimensional space charge limited current in regime between accelerating diode and drift space for sheet and circular beam

We develop a general electrostatic steady-state model to calculate the two-dimensional (2D) space-charge-limited current (SCLC) with an initial velocity v0 (i.e., kinetic energy eKV=mv02/2) injected from a cathode into a vacuum diode with a spacing D and a potential difference of Vg. We consider two types of beam cross section: (a) a sheet beam with a width W and (b) a circular beam with a radius R, where both W and R are larger than D in the calculation. By introducing a parameter ε≡KV/Vg≥0, we can tune the operating regime to be in between the accelerating diode (ε≪1) and drift space (ε≫1). Hence, we verify the 2D SCLC model by converging to some prior analytical findings such as the 2D Child–Langmuir law at ε = 0, 2D SCLC at drift space at ε≫1, and their 1D limits at W/D≫1 or R/D≫1. Our 2D SCLC model indicates that there is a maximal value at ε∼1/60, which is independent of W/D or R/D. Furthermore, the hysteresis behavior is also studied when the injected current density is beyond the SCLC threshold and its dynamics are mainly influenced by ε instead of geometrical effect. This model is useful in high current electron beam emission with a finite emission area and with a non-negligible arbitrary injection kinetic energy.

Technical note: Dosimetry and FLASH potential of UHDR proton PBS for small lung tumors: Bragg-peak-based delivery versus transmission beam and IMPT.

High-energy transmission beams (TBs) are currently the main delivery method for proton pencil beam scanning ultrahigh dose-rate (UHDR) FLASH radiotherapy. TBs place the Bragg-peaks behind the target, outside the patient, making delivery practical and achievement of high dose-rates more likely. However, they lead to higher integral dose compared to conventional intensity-modulated proton therapy (IMPT), in which Bragg-peaks are placed within the tumor. It is hypothesized that, when energy changes are not required and high beam currents are possible, Bragg-peak-based beams can not only achieve more conformal dose distributions than TBs, but also have more FLASH-potential. This works aims to verify this hypothesis by taking three different Bragg-peak-based delivery techniques and comparing them with TB and IMPT-plans in terms of dosimetry and FLASH-potential for single-fraction lung stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT). For a peripherally located lung target of various sizes, five different proton plans were made using "matRad" and inhouse-developed algorithms for spot/energy-layer/beam reduction and minimum monitor unit maximization: (1) IMPT-plan, reference for dosimetry, (2) TB-plan, reference for FLASH-amount, (3) pristine Bragg-peak plan (non-depth-modulated Bragg-peaks), (4) Bragg-peak plan using generic ridge filter, and (5) Bragg-peak plan using 3D range-modulated ridge filter. Bragg-peak-based plans are able to achieve sufficient plan quality and high dose-rates. IMPT-plans resulted in lowest OAR-dose and integral dose (also after a FLASH sparing-effect of 30%) compared to both TB-plans and Bragg-peak-based plans. Bragg-peak-based plans vary only slightly between themselves and generally achieve lower integral dose than TB-plans. However, TB-plans nearly always resulted in lower mean lung dose than Bragg-peak-based plans and due to a higher amount of FLASH-dose for TB-plans, this difference increased after including a FLASH sparing-effect. This work indicates that there is no benefit in using Bragg-peak-based beams instead of TBs for peripherally located, UHDR stereotactic lung radiotherapy, if lung dose is the priority.

Gas mixing and double frequency operation of the permanent magnet quadrupole minimum-B electron cyclotron resonance ion source CUBE-ECRIS

CUBE-ECRIS is a recently commissioned permanent magnet electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) ion source developed at the university of Jyväskylä accelerator laboratory. The special features of the new ion source design include an unconventional quadrupole minimum-B magnetic field structure and a slit beam extraction system necessitated by the line-shaped plasma loss fluxes. Gas mixing and double frequency operation are widely used methods to optimize high charge state ion production of conventional ECR ion sources. The work presented here demonstrates the applicability of these methods for boosting the high charge state beam currents of argon, krypton and xenon extracted from CUBE-ECRIS. Oxygen and helium were used as mixing gases and microwave frequencies between 10 and 11 GHz were used for single and double frequency operation. Gas mixing has a strong impact on the high charge state beam currents. For example, the highest observed charge state increased from 15+ to 19+ for krypton and from 16+ to 23+ for xenon with oxygen gas mixing. Double frequency operation provides an additional performance improvement, for example the currents of argon 9+ and 11+ beams, produced with gas mixing, increased 30% and 100% in double frequency operation at the same total power.

Achievement of high-current continuous-wave deuteron injector for linear IFMIF prototype accelerator (LIPAc)

The Linear IFMIF (International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility) Prototype Accelerator (LIPAc) is aiming at demonstrating the low-energy section of a 40 MeV/125 mA IFMIF deuteron accelerator up to 9 MeV with a full beam current in continuous-wave operation. For such a high-power beam, the LIPAc injector is required to produce a beam current of 140 mA and 100 keV D+ beams. The injector commissioning to reach high beam current has been progressing at high duty cycle operation, then stable operation for many hours at a beam condition of 150 mA total extracted current. This result demonstrates that the LIPAc injector can meet the required performance for nominal 125 mA long pulse deuteron beam acceleration.

Effect of beam current on microstructure, tensile properties and corrosion behaviour of electron beam welded zircaloy-4 joints

ABSTRACT Butt joints of zircaloy-4 were made using electron beam (EB) welding. The effect of beam current (15–20 mA) on weld zone size, microstructure, porosity, mechanical and corrosion properties has been investigated. Local temperature and cooling rate were estimated, and the average cooling rate increased from 2.4 to 6.3°C ms–1 with a decrease in beam current in the said range. Joints prepared at lower beam current possessed smoother weld surface, narrow weld bead, and fine lamellar type widmanstätten structure in the fusion zone (FZ). The length of the α-Zr lamella (from 105 to 37 µm) and interlamellar space (from 0.8 to 0.3 µm) decreased with a decrease in beam current. The XCT result revealed that porosity increased with an increase in beam current, and large-size micro pores of 180 µm were present in joints prepared at high beam current. The hardness of the welded samples increased by 13–20% than the base metal. The joint prepared with a low beam current possessed higher ductility (29%) and a minimum corrosion rate (0.0085 mmpy in 3.5 wt-% of NaCl solution) than the joint made with a higher beam current.

In-target production of [11C]CH4 from a nitrogen/hydrogen gas target as a function of beam current, irradiation time, and target temperature

BackgroundProduction of [11C]CH4 from gas targets is notorious for weak performance with respect to yield, especially when using high beam currents. Post-target conversion of [11C]CO2 to [11C]CH4 is a widely used roundabout method in 11C-radiochemistry, but the added complexity increase the challenge to control carrier carbon. Thus in-target-produced [11C]CH4 is superior with respect to molar activity. We studied the in-target production of [11C]CO2 and [11C]CH4 from nitrogen gas targets as a function of beam current, irradiation time, and target temperature.Results[11C]CO2 production was practically unchanged across the range of varied parameters, but the [11C]CH4 yield, presented in terms of saturation yield YSAT(11CH4), had a negative correlation with beam current and a positive correlation with target chamber temperature. A formulated model equation indicates behavior where the [11C]CH4 formation follows a parabolic graph as a function of beam current. The negative square term, i.e., the yield loss, is postulated to arise from Haber–Bosch-like NH3 formation: N2 + 3H2 → 2NH3. The studied conditions suggest that the NH3 (liq.) would be condensed on the target chamber walls, thus depleting the hydrogen reserve needed for the conversion of nascent 11C to [11C]CH4.Conclusions[11C]CH4 production can be improved by increasing the target chamber temperature, which is presented in a mathematical formula. Our observations have implications for targetry design (geometry, gas volume and composition, pressure) and irradiation conditions, providing specific knowledge to enhance [11C]CH4 production at high beam currents. Increased [11C]CH4 radioactivity is an obvious benefit in radiosynthesis in terms of product yield and molar radioactivity.

Development of a high current electron beam facility for compact accelerator neutron source target thermal tests

Target thermal capabilities are one of the major key points for CANS (Compact Accelerator-based Neutron Source) developments. Indeed, high energy (few MeV) and high average current (few tens of mA) proton or deuteron beams are required to produce high thermal neutron flux of 101³ n.cm⁻2.s⁻1 or greater. The targets must therefore absorb and dissipate a high thermal power. In order to make progress on their designs without deuteron or proton beams, we developed a compact electron beamline based on an Electron Cyclotron Resonance (ECR) source that permits testing of targets under relevant thermal conditions at power densities up 3 kW. cm⁻2.

Performance investigation of conduction-cooled cryogenic permanent magnet undulator at high beam currents

Performance investigation of conduction-cooled cryogenic permanent magnet undulator at high beam currents

Beam optics distortion caused by orbit deviation at strong sextupole magnets in SuperKEKB

The SuperKEKB is an electron-positron double-ring asymmetric-energy collider at the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) in Japan. It uses a novel collision method referred to as the nano-beam scheme to avoid the so-called hourglass effect. The highest peak luminosity achieved thus far is 4.65 × 1034 cm-2s-1, which was reached on June 8th, 2022. Although the SuperKEKB holds the record for the world's highest instantaneous luminosity, several unresolved issues prevent a further increase in luminosity. One of the major issues is inadequate stability and reproducibility of the beam orbit and optics. This paper discusses optics distortion caused by orbit deviation near strong sextupole magnets. Numerical estimations indicate that a horizontal orbit deviation of a few tens of micrometers induces a sizable distortion of the optical functions at the interaction point. Analyses of the amount of betatron tune feedback and orbit at sextupole magnets used for crab waist and vertical local chromaticity correction indicate that the beam-current dependence of the vertical tune shift is attributable to the change of the beam orbit at the sextupoles. The orbit fluctuation at the sextupoles causes beta-beating and makes stable operation at high beam currents more difficult. The results show that orbit tuning at the sextupoles improves both the injection efficiency and the detector background level. Optics deterioration within a few days is another urgent issue in high-beam-current operation. A vertical orbit change of a few tens of microns at sextupole magnets installed in arc cells is a matter of concern according to numerical estimations.

Nonadiabatic effects in the electron-optical system of a relativistic millimeter-wave gyrotron

Gyrotrons based on relativistic electron flows generated by thermionic magnetron injection guns are promising pulsed sources of millimeter and submillimeter radiation with multi-megawatt output power. Obviously, to increase the output power of such devices, it is necessary to provide a high beam current of more than 100 A. At the selected emission density, this forces the use of an emitter with a sufficiently large area. As is well known, wide emitters produce beams with a large velocity spread, which reduces the efficiency of the electron-wave interaction. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the diameter and, accordingly, increase the distance from the cathode to the gyrotron cavity, which leads to an increase in the magnetization reversal coefficient. Thus, the magnetic field in the region of beam formation becomes weak, and the Larmor radius and the turn pitch of the electron trajectory become large compared to the geometry of the surrounding electrodes, which can cause nonadiabatic effects. In this work, we consider one of these effects, which consists in the emergence of a range of anode voltage values in which the monotonic growth of the pitch factor stops. The results of trajectory analysis using current tube and discrete source methods based on the ANGEL software package are presented, as well as an assessment of the influence of a magnetic lens on the properties of an electron beam based on a simple analytical model.

A very low energy ion beam extraction system design of the GTS ECR ion source at GANIL

The GTS ion source, operated at 14.5GHz, provides multiply charged heavy ion beams for the ARIBE facility at GANIL. The facility variety is limited by the efficiency of the extraction especially in the few keV/q domain. In order to improve the ion source, the extraction system was upgraded numerically using IBSimu. The shape of the plasma and the puller electrodes was changed. It causes the increase of the electric field near the plasma meniscus and allows the use of lower extraction voltages at constant total ion beam current. The required beam parameters were taken from the experimental data. The opportunity of effective low energy beam formation (at a few keV/q or several hundreds eV/q beam energy) was studied. The high current and low energy ion beam production will provide new possibilities for ARIBE facility users.

A Platform for Laser-Driven Ion Sources Generated with Nanosecond Laser Pulses in the Intensity Range of 1013–1015 W/cm2

An experimental platform for laser-driven ion (sub-MeV) acceleration and potential applications was commissioned at the HiLASE laser facility. The auxiliary beam of the Bivoj laser system operating at a GW level peak power (~10 J in 5–10 ns) and 1–10 Hz repetition rate enabled a stable production of high-current ion beams of multiple species (Al, Ti, Fe, Si, Cu, and Sn). The produced laser–plasma ion sources were fully characterized against the laser intensity on the target (1013–1015 W/cm2) by varying the laser energy, focal spot size, and pulse duration. The versatility and tuneability of such high-repetition-rate laser–plasma ion sources are of potential interest for user applications. Such a statistically accurate study was facilitated by the large amount of data acquired at the high repetition rate (1–10 Hz) provided by the Bivoj laser system.

Conceptual design of the high-power electron beam irradiator using niobium-tin superconducting cavity

In recent years, there has been an increasing demand for high-intensity beams in the field of electron beam irradiation. This includes mass production of nuclear medicine examinations using 99Mo and high-efficiency production through material modification via material irradiation. Although superconducting cavities can achieve high-current beam acceleration, a compact accelerator is desirable for general-purpose irradiation beams. In this paper, we designed a practical 10 MeV, 50 mA high-current beam irradiator using a new Nb3Sn superconducting cavity.

Suppression of Microbunching Instability based on optimized velocity bunching in linac-driven FELs

The microbunching instability (MBI) driven by beam collective effects can cause significant electron beam quality degradation in advanced x-ray free electron lasers. Typically, multiple stage magnetic bunch compressors used to generate high peak current electron beam will dramatically amplify the microbunching instability. In this paper, by redesigning the solenoid elaborately and adopting a dual-mode buncher cavity with the third harmonic mode used to correct the RF curvature, it is potential for the electron beam to be further compressed in velocity bunching (VB) process. Therefore, a VB plus one bunch compressor could be a promising alternative scheme to achieve moderate peak current beam for high-repetition-rate X-ray FELs to suppress the additional MBI gain due to multi-stage magnetic bunch compressors.