Acceleration Of Intense Ion Beams Research Articles

Production of intense metal ion beams at the DC-60 cyclotron

In 2017–2018, research program of the DC-60 cyclotron (Astana Branch of the Institute of Nuclear Physics, Kazakhstan) requests acceleration of intense ion beams of solid elements. Beams of B and Fe ions are produced in ECR ion source by using the volatile compounds, while ions of Li, Mg, P and Ca are produced by evaporation from an oven. Beams of 56Fe10+, 7Li1+, 24Mg4+, 31P5+, 40Ca7+, and 11B2+ ions were accelerated up to energies of 1.32–1.75 MeV/u.

Energetic ions generated by laser pulses: A detailed study on target properties

We present the results of a detailed study on the acceleration of intense ion beams by relativistic laser plasmas. The experiments were performed at the 100 TW laser at the Laboratoire pour L'Utilisation des Lasers Intenses. We investigated the dependence of the ion beams on the target conditions based on theoretical predictions by the target normal sheath acceleration mechanism. A strong dependence of the ion beam parameters on the conditions on the target rear surface was found. We succeeded in shaping the ion beam by the appropriate tailoring of the target geometry and we performed a characterization of the ion beam quality. The production of a heavy ion beam could be achieved by suppressing the amount of protons at the target surfaces. Finally, we demonstrated the use of short pulse laser driven ion beams for radiography of thick samples with high resolution.

Heavy ion beam inertial confinement fusion studies in TIT

The HICF studies in Tokyo Institute of Technology are focused on beam-plasma interaction and acceleration of intense ion beams by inductive and RF methods. Two types of plasma targets have been developed by means of Z-pinch discharge and laser irradiation for the interaction experiments. Measurements of energy loss and charge exchange of heavy ions are conducted with those plasma targets. An inductive acceleration of light ions has been initiated with a Mendel type plasma gun connected to a magnetic core cavity. An RFQ linac generates an intense helium beam of sharp rise in order that a beam-induced plasma can be studied.

Microsecond pulse width, intense, light-ion beam accelerator

A relatively long-pulse width (0.1–1 μs) intense ion beam accelerator has been built for materials processing applications. An applied Br, magnetically insulated extraction ion diode with dielectric flashover ion source is installed directly onto the output of a 1.2 MV, 300-kJ Marx generator. The diode is designed with the aid of multidimensional particle-in-cell simulations. Initial operation of the accelerator at 0.4 MV indicates satisfactory performance without the need for additional pulse shaping. The effect of a plasma opening switch on diode behavior is considered.

Ion emission from anode foils during multistage acceleration of intense ion beams

Steady-state calculations are presented that show that the ion current density extracted off an anode foil in a multistage ion diode is a monotonically decreasing function of the injected current density J, going to zero as J goes to a limiting value J1. However, J1 can be quite large, going to infinity as the diode voltage approaches the limiting voltage V1 from below. Thus, it may not always be practical to inject a beam of current density exceeding J1. The results presented in this paper can be used to determine the fraction of (typically unwanted) ions extracted from the anode foil when J≤J1.

Collective Acceleration of Intense Ion Beams in Vacuum

We have developed a diode system with an insulated anode and rear target that operates in vacuum and produces 4 × 1010 neutrons per pulse. The system forms a pinch discharge that ejects a cluster of collectively accelerated ions that attain full energy in 7 cm. Target neutron data and activation analysis with multiple foils show that pulses of 1014 protons with energy up to 15 MeV have been achieved. Experiments with electrode materials and diode geometry have lead to large improvements in focusing and ion beams have been propagated 8 ft in vacuum. The presence of high-energy carbon ions indicates that the pinch has the capability of forming and accelerating multiple ionized high-Z ions.