Beam Transport Line Research Articles

The IsoDAR high intensity H2+ transport and injection tests

This technical report reviews the tests performed at the Best Cyclotron Systems, Inc. facility in regards to developing a cost effective ion source, beam line transport system, and acceleration system capable of high H2+ current output for the IsoDAR (Isotope Decay At Rest) experiment. We begin by outlining the requirements for the IsoDAR experiment then provide overviews of the Versatile Ion Source (VIS), Low Energy Beam Transport (LEBT) system, spiral inflector, and cyclotron. The experimental measurements are then discussed and the results are compared with a thorough set of simulation studies. Of particular importance we note that the VIS proved to be a reliable ion source capable of generating a large amount of H2+ current. The results suggest that with further upgrades, the VIS could potentially be a suitable candidate for IsoDAR. The conclusion outlines the key results from our tests and introduces the forthcoming work this technical report has motivated.

Lattice design and beam dynamics studies of the high energy beam transport line in the RAON heavy ion accelerator

In RAON heavy ion accelerator, beams generated by superconducting electron cyclotron resonance ion source (ECR-IS) or Isotope Separation On-Line (ISOL) system are accelerated by lower energy superconducting linac and high energy superconducting linac. The accelerated beams are used in the high energy experimental hall which includes bio-medical and muon-SR facilities, after passing through the high energy beam transport lines. At the targets of those two facilities, the stable and small beams meeting the requirements rigorously are required in the transverse plane. Therefore the beams must be safely sent to the targets and simultaneously satisfy the two requirements, the achromatic condition and the mid-plane symmetric condition, of the targets. For this reason, the lattice design of the high energy beam transport lines in which the long deflecting sections are included is considered as a significant issue in the RAON accelerator. In this paper, we will describe the calculated beam optics satisfying the conditions and present the result of particle tracking simulations with the designed lattice of the high energy beam transport lines in the RAON accelerator. Also, the orbit distortion caused by the machine imperfections and the orbit correction with correctors will be discussed.

Design and Status of the ELIMED Beam Line for Laser-Driven Ion Beams

Charged particle acceleration using ultra-intense and ultra-short laser pulses has gathered a strong interest in the scientific community and it is now one of the most attractive topics in the relativistic laser-plasma interaction research. Indeed, it could represent the future of particle acceleration and open new scenarios in multidisciplinary fields, in particular, medical applications. One of the biggest challenges consists of using, in a future perspective, high intensity laser-target interaction to generate high-energy ions for therapeutic purposes, eventually replacing the old paradigm of acceleration, characterized by huge and complex machines. The peculiarities of laser-driven beams led to develop new strategies and advanced techniques for transport, diagnostics and dosimetry of the accelerated particles, due to the wide energy spread, the angular divergence and the extremely intense pulses. In this framework, the realization of the ELIMED (ELI-Beamlines MEDical applications) beamline, developed by INFN-LNS (Catania, Italy) and installed in 2017 as a part of the ELIMAIA beamline at the ELI-Beamlines (Extreme Light Infrastructure Beamlines) facility in Prague, has the aim to investigate the feasibility of using laser-driven ion beams in multidisciplinary applications. ELIMED will represent the first user’s open transport beam line where a controlled laser-driven ion beam will be used for multidisciplinary and medical studies. In this paper, an overview of the beamline, with a detailed description of the main transport elements, will be presented. Moreover, a description of the detectors dedicated to diagnostics and dosimetry will be reported, with some preliminary results obtained both with accelerator-driven and laser-driven beams.

News Article

News Article

Design and RF test of MEBT buncher cavities for C-ADS Injector II at IMP

Abstracts To match the beam from the Radio Frequency Quadrupole (RFQ) accelerator to the Superconducting Half-wave Resonator (HWR) Linac, two room temperature (RT) double-gap Quarter-wave Resonator (QWR) bunchers are designed to be located in the Medium Energy Beam Transport Line (MEBT) for the C-ADS Injector II at IMP. Both cavities work at 162.5 MHz, with β=0.067 and a beam aperture diameter of 40 mm. The effective voltage of these two cavities needs to reach 135 kV in Continuous Wave (CW) mode. In this paper, the RF design and thermal analysis of the cavities will be presented, along with the tuners and coupler consideration. The measured frequencies, Rsh/Q0, Q0 and voltage of the cavities agree well with the simulation result. Details of the RF test results including the full power tests of the cavities will be shown.

Low current performance of the Bern medical cyclotron down to the pA range

A medical cyclotron accelerating H− ions to 18 MeV is in operation at the Bern University Hospital (Inselspital). It is the commercial IBA 18/18 cyclotron equipped with a specifically conceived 6 m long external beam line ending in a separate bunker. This feature is unique for a hospital-based facility and makes it possible to conduct routine radioisotope production for PET diagnostics in parallel with multidisciplinary research activities, among which are novel particle detectors, radiation biophysics, radioprotection, radiochemistry and radiopharmacy developments. Several of these activities, such as radiobiology experiments for example, require low current beams down to the pA range, while medical cyclotrons are designed for high current operation above 10 μA. In this paper, we present the first results on the low current performance of a PET medical cyclotron obtained by ion source, radio-frequency and main coil tuning. With this method, stable beam currents down to () pA were obtained and measured with a high-sensitivity Faraday cup located at the end of the beam transport line.

Design of post linac to driver linac transport beam line in rare isotope accelerator.

We investigated the design of a beam transport line connecting the post linac to the driver linac (P2DT) in the Rare Isotope Accelerator (RAON). P2DT beam line is designed by 180° bending scheme to send the radioactive isotope separation on-line (ISOL) beams accelerated in the Linac-3 to Linac-2. The beam line is designed as a 180° bend for the transport of a multi-charge state (132)Sn(+45,+46,+47) beam. We used the TRACE 3-D, TRACK, and ORBIT codes to design the optics system, which also includes two bunchers and ten sextupole magnets for chromaticity compensation. The transverse emittance growth is minimized by adopting mirror symmetric optics and by correcting second-order aberrations using sextupoles. We report on the multi-charge state beam transport performance of the designed beam line. The main characteristics of the P2DT line are to minimize beam loss and the growth of emittance, and for charge stripping. Beam optics for P2DT is optimized for reducing beam loss and charge stripping. As Linac-3 may accelerate the stable beam and radioactive beam simultaneously, P2DT line also transports the stable beam and radioactive beam simultaneously. Thus, we need a RF switchyard to send the stable beam to the ISOL target and the radioactive beam to the high-energy experimental area in Linac-2 end.

Experimental station for laser-based picosecond time-resolved x-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy.

We present an experimental station designed for time-resolved X-ray Absorption Near-Edge Spectroscopy (XANES). It is based on ultrashort laser-plasma x-ray pulses generated from a table-top 100 mJ-class laser at 10 Hz repetition rate. A high transmission (10%-20%) x-ray beam line transport using polycapillary optics allows us to set the sample in an independent vacuum chamber, providing high flexibility over a wide spectral range from 0.5 up to 4 keV. Some XANES spectra are presented, demonstrating 1% noise level in only ∼1 mn and ∼100 cumulated laser shots. Time-resolved measurements are reported, indicating that the time resolution of the entire experimental station is 3.3 ± 0.6 ps rms.

Start-to-end simulations for beam dynamics in the RISP heavy-ion accelerator

RAON has been designed as a rare isotope accelerator facility for the Rare Isotope Science Project (RISP). The main accelerator for the in-flight system accelerates uranium and proton beams to 200MeV/u and 660MeV, respectively, with a beam power of 400kW. The front-end system consists of two 28GHz electron cyclotron resonance ion sources (10keV/u), a low-energy beam transport (LEBT) line with two 90° bends, a multi-harmonic buncher with three different rf frequencies, a radio-frequency quadrupole (RFQ), and a medium-energy beam transport line (MEBT) with three rebunchers and eight quadrupoles. A driver linac system consisting of Linac-1 and Linac-2 has been designed to optimize the beam and accelerator parameters so as to meet the required design goals. A charge stripper section is located between Linac-1 and Linac-2. To optimize these designs, we performed start-to-end simulations with the beams from the LEBT to Linac-2 using 1 million macroparticles. We present the resulting beam dynamics to evaluate the performance of the accelerator. Our simulation results predict that the transmission rate of the uranium beam is 85.8% from the LEBT to Linac-2. The designed facility is expected to achieve the required beam loss condition of less than 1W/m. The RAON driver linac lattice design was developed and an overview of the beam dynamics is presented.

CSR-induced emittance growth in achromats: Linear formalism revisited

We review the R-matrix formalism used to describe Coherent Synchrotron Radiation (CSR)-induced projected emittance growth in electron beam transport lines and establish the connection with a description in terms of the dispersion-invariant function.

Errors and optics study of a permanent magnet quadrupole system

Laser-based accelerators are gaining interest in recent years as an alternative to conventional machines [1]. Nowadays, energy and angular spread of the laser-driven beams are the main issues in application and different solutions for dedicated beam-transport lines have been proposed [2,3]. In this context a system of permanent magnet quadrupoles (PMQs) is going to be realized by INFN [2] researchers, in collaboration with SIGMAPHI [3] company in France, to be used as a collection and pre-selection system for laser driven proton beams. The definition of well specified characteristics, both in terms of performances and field quality, of the magnetic lenses is crucial for the system realization, for an accurate study of the beam dynamics and the proper matching with a magnetic selection system already realized [6,7]. Hence, different series of simulations have been used for studying the PMQs harmonic contents and stating the mechanical and magnetic tolerances in order to have reasonable good beam quality downstream the system. In this paper is reported the method used for the analysis of the PMQs errors and its validation. Also a preliminary optics characterization is presented in which are compared the effects of an ideal PMQs system with a perturbed system on a monochromatic proton beams.

Demonstration of relativistic electron beam focusing by a laser-plasma lens.

Laser-plasma technology promises a drastic reduction of the size of high-energy electron accelerators. It could make free-electron lasers available to a broad scientific community and push further the limits of electron accelerators for high-energy physics. Furthermore, the unique femtosecond nature of the source makes it a promising tool for the study of ultrafast phenomena. However, applications are hindered by the lack of suitable lens to transport this kind of high-current electron beams mainly due to their divergence. Here we show that this issue can be solved by using a laser-plasma lens in which the field gradients are five order of magnitude larger than in conventional optics. We demonstrate a reduction of the divergence by nearly a factor of three, which should allow for an efficient coupling of the beam with a conventional beam transport line.

Design study of low energy beam transport line for ion beams of the post-accelerator at RAON

Low-energy ions produced by the ion source pass through the focusing and acceleration sections. During this process, the ions accumulate energy and are finally transported to the apparatus that utilizes them for a specific purpose. Thus, in order to increase the transmission efficiency of the ion beams, the low energy beam transport (LEBT) system must minimize the beam loss and the emittance growth. The LEBT system is designed and optimized to transmit 132Sn16+ and 58Ni8+ beams of the post-accelerator at RAON that is the accelerator complex for the rare isotope science. The post-accelerator LEBT line comprises solenoids and electrostatic quadrupoles for transverse focusing and a multi-harmonic buncher for longitudinal focusing. This paper presents the results of the optical design and beam tracking for the post-accelerator LEBT obtained by using TraceWIN and TRACK codes.

DISTRIBUTED MICROCONTROLLER BASED CONTROL SCHEME FOR REMOTE CONTROL OF FEL POWER SUPPLY

Infrared Free Electron Laser (IRFEL) which is under development at RRCAT Indore. The IRFEL machine consists of 90keV thermionic gun as electron source, beam transport line, 25MeV Linear Accelerator (LINAC) and an undulator magnet. There are various magnets on beam transport line. These magnets are energized by power supplies. These power supplies have local as well as remote control and located at equipment hall. The control room and equipment hall are at approximate distance of 300 m. When in operation Free Electron Laser generates X-ray radiations which are harmful for human body. Hence, when FEL is operational no personnel can enter FEL hall. Therefore, power supply kept in this hall needs a remote operation. In this paper, a distributed control system hardware and parameter display for Controlling and monitoring of power supply is designed based on network management protocol i.e. Modbus protocol makes the system flexible for Humans

Updating the CSNS injector linac to 250 MeV with superconducting double-spoke cavities**Supported by National Nature Sciences Foundation of China (11375122, 91126003) and China ADS Project

In order to update the beam power from 100 kW to 500 kW in the China Spallation neutron source (CSNS) Phase II, one of the important measures is to replace the 80 m long beam transport line between the present 80 MeV linac injector and the rapid cycling synchrotron (RCS) to another kind of acceleration structure. In this paper, we proposed a scheme based on 324 MHz double-spoke superconducting cavities. Unlike the superconducting elliptical cavity and normal conducting coupled cavity linac (CCL) structure, the double-spoke cavity belongs to the TE mode structure and has a smaller transverse dimension compared with that of the TH mode one. It can work at base frequency as the drift tube Linac (DTL) section, so that the cost and complexity of the RF system will be much decreased, and the behaviors of the beam dynamics are also improved significantly because of the low charge density and larger longitudinal acceptance. Furthermore, because of the relatively longer interactive length between the charged particle and the electromagnetic field per cell, it needs relatively less cell numbers and it has larger velocity acceptance compared with the double frequency TH structures. The superconducting section consists of 14 periods, each of which includes 3 superconducting cavities encapsulated in one cryomodule and a doublet in room temperate. The general considerations on cavity and beam dynamics design are discussed and the main results are presented.

Optimization of a general-purpose, actively scanned proton beamline for ocular treatments: Geant4 simulations.

The Italian National Center for Hadrontherapy (CNAO, Centro Nazionale di Adroterapia Oncologica), a synchrotron‐based hospital facility, started the treatment of patients within selected clinical trials in late 2011 and 2012 with actively scanned proton and carbon ion beams, respectively. The activation of a new clinical protocol for the irradiation of uveal melanoma using the existing general‐purpose proton beamline is foreseen for late 2014. Beam characteristics and patient treatment setup need to be tuned to meet the specific requirements for such a type of treatment technique. The aim of this study is to optimize the CNAO transport beamline by adding passive components and minimizing air gap to achieve the optimal conditions for ocular tumor irradiation. The CNAO setup with the active and passive components along the transport beamline, as well as a human eye‐modeled detector also including a realistic target volume, were simulated using the Monte Carlo Geant4 toolkit. The strong reduction of the air gap between the nozzle and patient skin, as well as the insertion of a range shifter plus a patient‐specific brass collimator at a short distance from the eye, were found to be effective tools to be implemented. In perspective, this simulation toolkit could also be used as a benchmark for future developments and testing purposes on commercial treatment planning systems.PACS numbers: 21.30Fe, 24.10.Lx, 29.20.dk, 29.27.Eg, 29.85.Fj

Transport and dosimetric solutions for the ELIMED laser-driven beam line

Within 2017, the ELIMED (ELI-Beamlines MEDical applications) transport beam-line and dosimetric systems for laser-generated beams will be installed at the ELI-Beamlines facility in Prague (CZ), inside the ELIMAIA (ELI Multidisciplinary Applications of laser–Ion Acceleration) interaction room. The beam-line will be composed of two sections: one in vacuum, devoted to the collecting, focusing and energy selection of the primary beam and the second in air, where the ELIMED beam-line dosimetric devices will be located. This paper briefly describes the transport solutions that will be adopted together with the main dosimetric approaches. In particular, the description of an innovative Faraday Cup detector with its preliminary experimental tests will be reported.

Present status of the electron beam diagnostics system of the PLS-II linac

The PLS-II, the upgraded PLS (Pohang Light Source), has been providing users with photon beams in the top-up mode since March 2013. The requirements for the PLS-II linac to achieve the top-up injection are very demanding because it is a full energy injector with a very limited energy margin. One of the requirements is to ensure high injection efficiency in order to minimize the beam loss at the storage ring injection point and the experimental hall during injection because loss leads to a high radiation level in the experimental hall. The energy stability and energy spread of the accelerated electron beam are fundamental parameters to monitor and manage for high injection efficiency. An energy feedback system consisting of a stripline-type beam position monitor and the last klystron was implemented. To diagnose the injected beam’s energy and energy spread in real time during top-up mode injection, we installed an optical transition radiation (OTR) monitor system upstream of the beam transport line (BTL) after the first bending magnet. The energy and the energy spread ranges can be controlled with a horizontal slit installed after the OTR monitor. The vertical beam size of the accelerated beam must be decreased for efficient injection because the electron beam is injected into the storage ring with many in-vacuum undulators of small gaps. For this purpose, two vertical slits were installed in the BTL region. We will describe mainly those instruments closely related to top-up operation, though other beam diagnostic instruments have been used since PLS.

Optimization of solenoid based low energy beam transport line for high current H+ beams

A 20 MeV, 30 mA CW proton linac is being developed at BARC, Mumbai. This linac will consist of an ECR ion source followed by a Radio Frequency Quadrupole (RFQ) and Drift tube Linac (DTL). The low energy beam transport (LEBT) line is used to match the beam from the ion source to the RFQ with minimum beam loss and increase in emittance. The LEBT is also used to eliminate the unwanted ions like H2+ and H3+ from entering the RFQ. In addition, space charge compensation is required for transportation of such high beam currents. All this requires careful design and optimization. Detailed beam dynamics simulations have been done to optimize the design of the LEBT using the Particle-in-cell code TRACEWIN. We find that with careful optimization it is possible to transport a 30 mA CW proton beam through the LEBT with 100% transmission and minimal emittance blow up, while at the same time suppressing unwanted species H2+ and H3+ to less than 3.3% of the total beam current.

Design study for the KOBRA (KOrea Broad acceptance Recoil spectrometer and Apparatus) at RAON

The KOBRA (KOrea Broad acceptance Recoil spectrometer and Apparatus) is a multi-purpose recoil spectrometer for low-energy nuclear experiments at the RAON accelerator complex. It is divided into two stages based on the operational function: the first stage (F0–F3) is an in-flight separator or beam transport line, and the second stage (F3–F5) is a large acceptance spectrometer. For spectrometers using radioactive ion (RI) beams, high performance, such as high resolution and large acceptance, are especially required due to the limit of quality of RI beams. In this respect, a dispersion-matching technique and a movable magnet system were employed for high resolution and large acceptance, respectively. Reaction spectra at the focal plane for the dispersion matching mode were obtained and analyzed using a Monte Carlo simulation code. In addition, the geometrical angular acceptances with respect to the distance between the reaction target and the first Q-pole doublet of the second stage were calculated, and the expected maximum solid angle of the spectrometer was estimated.