Low Energy High Intensity Proton Research Articles

Design, fabrication, and characterization of a drift tube linac type double gap re-buncher cavity.

The Low Energy High Intensity Proton Accelerator (LEHIPA) at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, India, has recently been commissioned to the target energy of 20MeV by beam acceleration through a 352MHz radio frequency quadrupole (RFQ) and drift tube linac (DTL). The medium energy beam transport (MEBT) line of LEHIPA matches the 3MeV beam from RFQ to the DTL using four electromagnetic quadrupoles and a re-buncher cavity. In the beam transport lines of high frequency linacs, TM010 mode single gap buncher cavities are conventionally used, while a double gap re-buncher cavity was chosen for the short length LEHIPA MEBT based on beam dynamics simulations. The 352MHz double gap re-buncher cavity has been designed in a DTL type geometry with a cell length of βλ. This double gap cavity is found to be more power efficient with a higher shunt impedance and transit time factor than the conventional single gap buncher cavity. Electromagnetic design simulations, fabrication details, low power and high-power RF test results, and beam test results of the re-buncher cavity are presented in this paper.

Gas sheet beam induced fluorescence based beam profile measurement for high intensity proton accelerators

The paper describes the design simulations, developmental details and characterization results of a dual gas sheet generator system for non-invasive beam profile measurement of high-intensity proton beams. The system is being developed for the Low Energy High Intensity Proton Accelerator facility at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, India. To our knowledge, this is the first time an intense low energy proton beam was used to directly view the beam induced fluorescence of a gas sheet. The system works by generating two thin nitrogen gas sheets which produces fluorescence when a charged particle beam passes through them, thereby providing a visual representation of the beam's intensity profile. The gas sheets are generated at 45° to the beam axis, which allows the fluorescence created by the interaction to be viewed directly through a viewport or camera capture. The beam profile measurements were carried out with a typically 20 keV, 10 mA pulsed proton beam from an ECR ion source under different operating parameters like gas sheet pressure, beam current, beam energy and focusing magnetic field. The Geant4 simulation has been performed to study the scintillation process and optical transport. It may become useful to study methods of reconstructing the beam profile from image obtained.

11–20 MeV Alvarez Drift Tube Linac for low energy proton accelerator

Bhabha Atomic Research Centre is developing Low Energy High Intensity Proton Accelerator (LEHIPA) as a pre-injector for proposed Accelerator Driven Sub-Critical Reactor Systems (ADSS). Drift Tube Linac is one of the two major accelerating structures of LEHIPA, the other being the Radio Frequency Quadrupole (RFQ). Like all particle accelerating structures, DTL needs multi-disciplinary expertise for design, production, qualification, and installation. This paper describes the comprehensive design, production, qualification, and installation of the ∼ 11–20 MeV section of DTL. It details the design of all sub-components which form part of the DTL RF cavity. Several novel concepts were implemented in course of this development. Important among them are DT-DTL alignment, referencing methodology, robust vacuum design and hermetically sealed DTs. This paper is a comprehensive coverage of design, development and installation aspects of Alvarez DTL. At present, the DTL is ready for beam commissioning.

Plasma characterization in CW and pulsed mode and its effect on beam current in 2.45 GHz ECR Ion source

Electron Cyclotron Resonance Ion Source (ECRIS) is used as a front end for Low Energy High Intensity Proton Accelerator (LEHIPA) at BARC. A 50 keV ECRIS is designed and developed for the proton ion beam for this accelerator. The key requirements of the ion source are beam current ∼ 10 – 15 mA and beam emittance ∼ 0.2 π mm-mrad. In the commissioning phase of LEHIPA, the ion source is operated in pulsed mode to mitigate the effect of thermal and radiation load. Measurements have been carried out to understand the behavior of pulsed plasma and its effect on ion beam. An Automated Langmuir Probe (ALP) and its associated circuit are designed and developed for this purpose. The ALP circuit consists of a voltage sweep generator, current sense circuit, and voltage sense circuit. The effect of microwave power and pulsed plasma duration on the plasma and the ion beam parameters have been studied. The plasma parameters are correlated with the beam parameters.

Experimental study of pulsed ion beam generated by different pulsing topology in 2.45 GHz ECR proton source

Electron Cyclotron Resonance Ion Source (ECRIS) is used as a front end for Low Energy High Intensity Proton Accelerator (LEHIPA). A 50 keV ECRIS is designed and developed for the proton ion beam at BARC. The key requirements of the ion source are stability of ion beam, repeatability, reliability with beam emittance of 0.2 π mm mrad, and proton fraction of 90% or more. Presently LEHIPA accelerated proton beam to 3 MeV from Radio Frequency Quadrupole (RFQ) and further beam experiments are in progress. The beam acceleration from RFQ is in pulsed mode with 250 μs on time at a repetition rate of 2 Hz. The incoming beam from the ion source is of 50 keV, 4 to 5 mA at the entrance of RFQ with a beam on time of 1 ms. In this work, two different beam pulsing methods for ECRIS are experimentally investigated. One is by pulsing the extractor High Voltage (HV) with continuous plasma operation and the other is by pulsing the plasma with continuous extractor HV. The details of the experimental setup, plasma tuning, optimization, extracted beam current results, and comparison of both methods are discussed. It is concluded that for obtaining a stable pulsed ion beam, pulsing the extractor HV is a better option than pulsing the plasma.

Pitot probe response for pulsed supersonic gas flow characterization in beam profile monitor.

For beam profile measurement of high-intensity proton beams in the low-energy high-intensity proton accelerator at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, a recent noninvasive technique based on gas sheets will be explored. The gas sheet for this instrument needs to be characterized for calibration and fine tuning of the sheet properties to provide better profile measurements. Pulsed sheet generators for similar applications have been characterized using movable vacuum chambers with a small slit and a gauge mounted inside. Pitot probes are more compact instruments and have been used to measure gas jet profiles in molecular beam applications where the jet was not pulsed. The performance of Pitot probes in the measurement of pulsed supersonic gas flow in vacuum was, therefore, investigated in this work. A test system was developed to generate a pulsed supersonic gas jet in vacuum, and a Pitot probe was inserted into the flow at various axial locations with respect to the nozzle. Measurements taken along the nozzle axis using this probe, as well as the axial Mach number and impact pressure computed using computational fluid dynamics and direct simulation Monte Carlo algorithms, were compared with fitting formulas. Schlieren images of the jet with and without the Pitot tube were also taken under different vacuum conditions.

Design, development and characterization of tunable Permanent Magnet Quadrupole for Drift Tube Linac

Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Trombay is developing LEHIPA (Low Energy High Intensity Proton Accelerator) as pre-injector for 1 GeV proton accelerator for proposed ADSS (Accelerator Driven Sub-critical reactor System). LEHIPA is 20 MeV, 30 mA room temperature accelerator and consists of RFQ (Radio Frequency Quadrupole) and DTL (Drift Tube Linac) as major accelerating structures. The RF (Radio Frequency) design of DT (Drift Tube) of DTL aimed at maximizing the shunt impedance; this demands the size (transverse) of DTs to be minimal. The width of the DT is governed by the β of the particle and trade-off between transit time factor and effective accelerating voltage in the DT gap. The availability of limited volume in DTs for housing magnetic quadrupole has motivated the use of permanent magnets for generating the quadrupole field, as they have high magnetic energy density when compared to conventional electromagnets. With usage of permanent magnets, joule heating is eliminated, this helps in limiting the heat load. DTL has copious microwave heat with heat flux as large as 10 W/cm2 at certain locations. The beam dynamics requires uniformity of integral magnetic field gradient of PMQ (Permanent Magnet Quadrupole) to be better than ±0.5% with nominal value of 2.05 T. Further the drift tubes which houses these PMQs have microwave heat generation on outer surface which ranges from 5 kW to 8 kW depending on the size of the DT. This heat is required to be removed, not doing so would result in resonant frequency detuning in DTL cavity and enhanced temperature would deteriorate the strength of permanent magnets of the PMQ, thereby compromising their focal length. The drift tube has hydraulic circuit for microwave heat removal. This paper describes the magnetic design of the PMQ using Sm2Co17 rare earth permanent magnets. Paper discusses the magnetic design for optimizing integral magnetic field gradient (integral Gdl) uniformity. A novel magnetic field tuning technique is used for tuning the integral magnetic field gradient to required value. Comprehensive magnetic tuning and characterization scheme is presented which relates the measured magnetic moment of the permanent magnets, un-tuned integral Gdl and pole length to the required integral Gdl. Based on this scheme thirty six PMQ embedded drift tubes have been developed. Paper also details the results of characterization of twenty PMQs which forms part of 10 MeV to 15 MeV DTL. The scheme used for tuning integral magnetic field gradient is universal and can be implemented in similar permanent magnets quadrupoles and other permanent magnet based systems.

Physics and technology for development of accelerator driven systems in India

A number of countries around the world have set up research programs for development of Accelerator Driven Systems (ADS) aimed towards Thorium Utilisation or Nuclear Waste Transmutation. Towards the beginning of this century, a Road Map for development of ADS was drawn up in India. The article gives a glimpse of the research being carried out around the world in this direction. The article begins with a brief historical introduction giving a description of various ADS concepts proposed and studied in the past. The Physics of ADS and how it is different from that of critical reactors is discussed. This is followed by a review of the work in the three areas of accelerator, target and sub critical reactor development, with particular emphasis on the activities in India.The accelerator program in India is oriented towards development of a high current high energy proton accelerator. The targeted energy and current are 1 GeV and 30 mA respectively. The first stage, presently under development, is a 30 mA 20 MeV Linac injector, the Low Energy High Intensity Proton Accelerator (LEHIPA). The article gives the present status of this program.The target development research includes studies related to heat removal and window damage such as irradiation creep, and void induced swelling due to hydrogen and helium generation and transmutation. Experimental facilities such as lead bismuth eutectic (LBE) loops for studying thermal hydraulics, and irradiation facilities for testing of targets have been set up. The reactor physics program includes basic theoretical studies on the Physics of ADS, development of advanced computer codes, compilation of nuclear data, an experimental program for studying the physics of sub critical ADS, and conceptual design studies of ADS systems for thorium utilisation.

Beam acceleration through proton radio frequency quadrupole accelerator in BARC

A 3 MeV proton Radio Frequency Quadrupole (RFQ) accelerator has been designed at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, India, for the Low Energy High Intensity Proton Accelerator (LEHIPA) programme. The 352 MHz RFQ is built in 4 segments and in the first phase two segments of the LEHIPA RFQ were commissioned, accelerating a 50 keV, 1 mA pulsed proton beam from the ion source, to an energy of 1.24 MeV. The successful operation of the RFQ gave confidence in the physics understanding and technology development that have been achieved, and indicate that the road forward can now be traversed rather more quickly.

Thermal analysis and neutron production characteristics of a lowpower copper beam dump-cum-target for LEHIPA

Monte Carlo simulations of heat deposition and neutron production have been carried out for the low power beam dump-cum-target for the 20 MeV Low Energy High Intensity Proton Accelerator (LEHIPA) facility at BARC using GEANT4 and FLUKA. Thermal analysis and heat transfer calculations have also been carried out using the computational fluid dynamics code CFD ACE+. In this work we present the details of the analysis of the low power beam dump-cum-target designed for conditioning of the accelerator upto a maximum power of 600 kW with a duty cycle of 2% which corresponds to an average power of 12 kW in the first phase.

Beam halo studies in LEHIPA DTL

The Low Energy High Intensity Proton Accelerator (LEHIPA) project at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) consists of a 20 MeV, 30 mA proton linac. The accelerator comprises of a 3 MeV Radio Frequency Quadrupole (RFQ) and a 20 MeV Drift Tube Linac (DTL). In such high intensity accelerators, beam halos are of concern as they not only cause an increase in emittance, but also lead to beam loss and radio activation. We have studied the effect of beam mismatch at the DTL input on halo formation and propagation. The particle core model is used to excite the three envelope eigen modes; the quadrupole mode, the fast mode and the slow mode by giving input beam mismatch. These modes get damped as the beam progresses through the DTL. The damping mechanism is clearly Landau damping and leads to increase in rms emittance of the beam. The evolution of these modes and the corresponding increase in beam emittance and maximum beam extent, as the beam propagates through the DTL, has been studied for different space charge tunes. The halo parameter based on the definition of Allen and Wangler has been calculated. It is seen that beam halos are very important for LEHIPA DTL, even at 20 MeV and leads to emittance and beam size increase and also to beam loss in some cases. The longitudinal halo is present even without mismatch and transverse halos arise in the presence of beam mismatch.

Emittance and proton fraction measurement in High current electron cyclotron resonance proton ion source

The beam characterization studies in terms of emittance and proton fraction have been carried out in the high current Electron Cyclotron Resonance (ECR) proton ion source developed for Low Energy High Intensity Proton Accelerator (LEHIPA). The beam emittance was measured using two slit emittance measurement units (EMU). The emittance was measured at three locations (1) after beam extraction at ion source end, (2) after focusing the beam using solenoid magnet and (3) after focusing and separating H+ using solenoid magnet and analyzing magnet. The beam emittance measured in all three cases was found to be less than 0.2πmm-mrad (rms-normalized). The proton fraction in the beam measured using analyzing magnet was found to be more than 90%. The variations of beam emittance and proton fraction have been studied as a function of microwave power and neutral gas pressure.

Beam extraction and high stability operation of high current electron cyclotron resonance proton ion source

A high current electron cyclotron resonance proton ion source is designed and developed for the low energy high intensity proton accelerator at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre. The plasma discharge in the ion source is stabilized by minimizing the reflected microwave power using four stub auto tuner and magnetic field. The optimization of extraction geometry is performed using PBGUNS code by varying the aperture, shape, accelerating gap, and the potential on the electrodes. While operating the source, it was found that the two layered microwave window (6 mm quartz plate and 2 mm boron nitride plate) was damaged (a fine hole was drilled) by the back-streaming electrons after continuous operation of the source for 3 h at beam current of 20-40 mA. The microwave window was then shifted from the line of sight of the back-streaming electrons and located after the water-cooled H-plane bend. In this configuration the stable operation of the high current ion source for several hours is achieved. The ion beam is extracted from the source by biasing plasma electrode, puller electrode, and ground electrode to +10 to +50 kV, -2 to -4 kV, and 0 kV, respectively. The total ion beam current of 30-40 mA is recorded on Faraday cup at 40 keV of beam energy at 600-1000 W of microwave power, 800-1000 G axial magnetic field and (1.2-3.9) × 10(-3) mbar of neutral hydrogen gas pressure in the plasma chamber. The dependence of beam current on extraction voltage, microwave power, and gas pressure is investigated in the range of operation of the ion source.

Langmuir probe diagnostics of plasma in high current electron cyclotron resonance proton ion source

A high current Electron Cyclotron Resonance (ECR) proton ion source has been developed for low energy high intensity proton accelerator at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre. Langmuir probe diagnostics of the plasma generated in this proton ion source is performed using Langmuir probe. The diagnostics of plasma in the ion source is important as it determines beam parameters of the ion source, i.e., beam current, emittance, and available species. The plasma parameter measurement in the ion source is performed in continuously working and pulsed mode using hydrogen as plasma generation gas. The measurement is performed in the ECR zone for operating pressure and microwave power range of 10(-4)-10(-3) mbar and 400-1000 W. An automated Langmuir probe diagnostics unit with data acquisition system is developed to measure these parameters. The diagnostics studies indicate that the plasma density and plasma electron temperature measured are in the range 5.6 × 10(10) cm(-3) to 3.8 × 10(11) cm(-3) and 4-14 eV, respectively. Using this plasma, ion beam current of tens of mA is extracted. The variations of plasma parameters with microwave power, gas pressure, and radial location of the probe have been studied.

An improved permanent magnet quadrupole design with larger good field region for high intensity proton linacs

The Low Energy High Intensity Proton Accelerator (LEHIPA), being developed at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) will produce a 20MeV, 30mA, continuous wave (CW) proton beam. At these low velocities, space-charge forces dominate, and could lead to larger beam sizes and beam halos. Hence in the design of the focusing lattice of the LEHIPA drift tube linac (DTL) using permanent magnet quadrupoles (PMQs), a larger good field region is preferred. Here we study, using the two dimensional (2D) and three dimensional (3D) simulation codes PANDIRA and RADIA, four different types of cylindrical PMQ designs: 16-segment trapezoidal Halbach configuration, bullet-nosed geometry and 8- and 16-segment rectangular geometries. The trapezoidal Halbach geometry is used in a variety of accelerators since it provides very high field gradients in small bores, while the bullet-nosed geometry, which is a combination of the trapezoidal and rectangular designs, is used in some DTLs. This study shows that a larger good field region is possible in the 16-segment rectangular design as compared to the Halbach and bullet-nosed designs, making it more attractive for high-intensity proton linacs. An improvement in good-field region by ∼16% over the Halbach design is obtained in the optimized 16-segment rectangular design, although the field gradient is lower by ∼20%. Tolerance studies show that the rectangular segment PMQ design is substantially less sensitive to the easy axis orientation errors and hence will be a better choice for DTLs.

Design studies of a high-current radiofrequency quadrupole for accelerator-driven systems programme

A 3 MeV, 30 mA radiofrequency quadrupole (RFQ) accelerator has been designed for the low-energy high-intensity proton accelerator (LEHIPA) project at BARC, India. The beam and cavity dynamics studies were performed using the computer codes LIDOS, TOUTATIS, SUPERFISH and CST microwave studio. We have followed the conventional design technique with slight modifications and compared that with the equipartitioned (EP) type of design. The sensitivity of the RFQ to the variation of input beam Twiss-Courant parameters and emittance has also been studied. In this article we discuss both design strategies and the details of the 3D cavity simulation studies.

High intensity electron cyclotron resonance proton source for low energy high intensity proton accelerator

Electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) proton source at 50 keV, 50 mA has been designed, developed, and commissioned for the low energy high intensity proton accelerator (LEHIPA). Plasma characterization of this source has been performed. ECR plasma was generated with 400-1100 W of microwave power at 2.45 GHz, with hydrogen as working gas. Microwave was fed in the plasma chamber through quartz window. Plasma density and temperature was studied under various operating conditions, such as microwave power and gas pressure. Langmuir probe was used for plasma characterization using current voltage variation. The typical hydrogen plasma density and electron temperature measured were 7x10(11) cm(-3) and 6 eV, respectively. The total ion beam current of 42 mA was extracted, with three-electrode extraction geometry, at 40 keV of beam energy. The extracted ion current was studied as a function of microwave power and gas pressure. Depending on source pressure and discharge power, more than 30% total gas efficiency was achieved. The optimization of the source is under progress to meet the requirement of long time operation. The source will be used as an injector for continuous wave radio frequency quadrupole, a part of 20 MeV LEHIPA. The required rms normalized emittance of this source is less than 0.2 pi mm mrad. The simulated value of normalized emittance is well within this limit and will be measured shortly. This paper presents the study of plasma parameters, first beam results, and the status of ECR proton source.

Accelerator development in India for ADS programme

At BARC, development of a Low Energy High Intensity Proton Accelerator (LEHIPA), as front-end injector of the 1 GeV accelerator for the ADS programme, has been initiated. The major components of LEHIPA (20 MeV, 30 mA) are a 50 keV ECR ion source, a 3 MeV Radio Frequency Quadrupole (RFQ) and a 20 meV drift tube linac (DTL). The Low Energy Beam Transport (LEBT) and Medium Energy Beam Transport (MEBT) lines match the beam from the ion source to RFQ and from RFQ to DTL respectively. Design of these systems has been completed and fabrication of their prototypes has started. Physics studies of the 20–1000 MeV part of the Linac are also in progress. In this paper, the present status of this project is presented.