Engineering topics

Lewis, Raymond A.

Publications and source records attributed to Lewis, Raymond A..

13 records

NASA NTRS2005

RF Stabilization for Storage of Antiprotons

Portable storage of antimatter is an important step in the experimental exploration of antimatter in propulsion applications. The High Performance Antiproton Trap (HiPAT) at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center is a Penning-Malmberg ion trap being developed to trap and store low energy antiprotons for a period of weeks. The antiprotons can then be transported for use in experiments. HiPAT is being developed and evaluated using normal matter, before an attempt is made to store and transport antiprotons. Stortd ions have inherent instabilities that limit the storage lifetime. RF stabilization at cyclotron resonance frequencies is demonstrated over a period of 6 days for normal matter ion clouds. A variety of particles have been stored, including protons, C+ ions, and H2+ ions. Cyclotron resonance frequencies are defined and experimental evidence presented to demonstrate excitation of cyclotron waves in the plasma for all three species of ions.

Pearson, J. Boise↗

NASA NTRS2004

Stacking Multiple Ion Captures in The High Performance Antiproton Trap (HiPAT)

The High performance Antiproton Trap (HiPAT) research project was initiated by the Marshall Space Flight Center's propulsion Research Center to examining the fundamental behavior of low energy antiprotons. Stored antiproton would ultimately be used for experimental demonstration of basic propulsive concepts. Matter-antimatter annihilation produces approximately 10(exp 8) MJ/g nearly 10 orders of magnitude more energy per unit mass than chemical based combustion, hence NASA's interest. To achieve containment, HiPAT utilizes a type of electromagnetic bottle know as a Penning trap positioned within an ultrahigh vacuum test section. Recently, the HiPAT hardware configuration has been enhanced to facilitate the capture of multiple normal matter ion burst. This endeavor is often referred to as "stacking" and used to increasing the number of captured particles. A prior normal matter experimental effort, successfully demonstrated the effectiveness of single burst capture. The stacking process is accomplished by manipulating the electric field generated by the confinement electrodes i.e. adjusting the well potential depth. These potential well values are initially configured to maximize the quantity of captured ions per burst; shallow wells with a depth of 100 volt or less (referenced to the incoming ion beam energy) are typically selected. Once captured, a cooling interval is required to reduce the energy of trapped particles below the lower extent of the "trap door" (or leading electrode) ion emitting potential. This is necessary such that a new burst of hot ions can be introduced while preventing those already inside from escaping. The cooling time is driven by a combination of mechanisms such as synchrotron radiation, background gas scattering, and resistive damping in a time scale on the order of minutes. A potential for reducing this hold period is to actively manipulate the electric field shape, using the power supply control system, to produce a deeper potential well. The trapped ions ride down the morphing well to a lower potential energy, leaving margin to once again cycle the "trap door" capturing a new burst while limiting the number of escaping ions. By adjusting the magnitude and timing of the potential well shaping, subsequent shots from the ion beam can be captured on a time scale shorter then that dictated by the standard inject, capture and cool technique. Currently, experimental tests are under way examining the functionally of this system for stacking multiple ions bursts within the HiPAT system.

Martin, James J.↗

NASA NTRS2003

Radio Frequency Trap for Containment of Plasmas in Antimatter Propulsion Systems Using Rotating Wall Electric Fields

A containment apparatus for containing a cloud of charged particles comprises a cylindrical vacuum chamber having a longitudinal axis. Within the vacuum chamber is a containment region. A magnetic field is aligned with the longitudinal axis of the vacuum chamber. The magnetic field is time invariant and uniform in strength over the containment region. An electric field is also aligned with the longitudinal axis of the vacuum chamber and the magnetic field. The electric field is time invariant, and forms a potential well over the containment region. One or more means are disposed around the cloud of particles for inducing a rotating electric field internal to the vacuum chamber. The rotating electric field imparts energy to the charged particles within the containment region and compress the cloud of particles. The means disposed around the outer surface of the vacuum chamber for inducing a rotating electric field are four or more segments forming a segmented ring, the segments conforming to the outer surface of the vacuum chamber. Each of the segments is energized by a separate alternating voltage. The sum of the voltages imposed on each segment establishes the rotating field. When four segments form a ring, the rotating field is obtained by a signal generator applying a sinusoidal signal phase delayed by 90,180 and 270 degrees in sequence to the four segments.

Sims, William Herbert, III↗

NASA NTRS2003

RF Manipulation and Detection of Protons in the High Performance Antiproton Trap (HiPAT)

The significant energy density of matter-antimatter annihilation is attractive to the designers of future space propulsion systems, with the potential to offer a highly compact source of power. Many propulsion concepts exist that could take advantage of matter-antimatter reactions, and current antiproton production rates are sufficient to support basic proof-of-principle evaluation of technology associated with antimatter-derived propulsion. One enabling technology for such experiments is portable storage of low energy antiprotons, allowing antiprotons to be trapped, stored, and transported for use at an experimental facility.

Martin, James J.↗

NASA NTRS2003

RF Manipulation and Detection of Protons in the High Performance Antiproton Trap (HiPAT) Experiment

HiPAT is a Penning-Malmberg trap designed to contain 10(exp 12) particles diagnostics of the plasma. Destructive particle detection is performed by extracting trapped ions from HiPAT and colliding them with a microchannel plate detector (providing number and energy information). The improved RF system has been used to detect various plasma modes for both electron and ion plasmas in the two traps at MSFC, including axd, cyclotron, and diocotron modes. New diagnostics are also being added to HiPAT to measure the axial density distribution of the trapped cloud to match measured RF plasma modes to plasma conditions. In addition, plasma modeling efforts have been started using the XOOPIC code.

Martin, James↗

NASA NTRS2003

Review of the High Performance Antiproton Trap (HiPAT) Experiment

Many space propulsion concepts exist that use matter-antimatter reactions. Current antiproton production rates are enough to conduct proof-of-principle evaluation of these concepts. One enabling technology for such experiments is portable storage of low energy antiprotons, to transport antiprotons to experimental facilities. To address this need, HiPAT is being developed, with a design goal of containing 10(exp 12) particles for up to 18 days. HiPAT is a Penning-Malmberg trap with a 4 Tesla superconductor, 20kV electrodes, radio frequency (RF) network, and 10(exp -13) Torr vacuum. 'Normal' matter is being used to evaluate the system. An electron beam ionizes background gas in situ, and particle beams are captured dynamically. The experiment examines ion storage lifetimes, RF plasma diagnostics, charge exchange with background gases, and dynamic ion beam capture.

Martin, James J.↗

NASA NTRS2003

A Scintillation Counter System Design To Detect Antiproton Annihilation using the High Performance Antiproton Trap(HiPAT)

The High Performance Antiproton Trap (HiPAT), a system designed to hold up to l0(exp 12) charge particles with a storage half-life of approximately 18 days, is a tool to support basic antimatter research. NASA's interest stems from the energy density represented by the annihilation of matter with antimatter, 10(exp 2)MJ/g. The HiPAT is configured with a Penning-Malmberg style electromagnetic confinement region with field strengths up to 4 Tesla, and 20kV. To date a series of normal matter experiments, using positive and negative ions, have been performed evaluating the designs performance prior to operations with antiprotons. The primary methods of detecting and monitoring stored normal matter ions and antiprotons within the trap includes a destructive extraction technique that makes use of a micro channel plate (MCP) device and a non-destractive radio frequency scheme tuned to key particle frequencies. However, an independent means of detecting stored antiprotons is possible by making use of the actual annihilation products as a unique indicator. The immediate yield of the annihilation event includes photons and pie mesons, emanating spherically from the point of annihilation. To "count" these events, a hardware system of scintillators, discriminators, coincident meters and multi channel scalars (MCS) have been configured to surround much of the HiPAT. Signal coincidence with voting logic is an essential part of this system, necessary to weed out the single cosmic ray events from the multi-particle annihilation shower. This system can be operated in a variety of modes accommodating various conditions. The first is a low-speed sampling interval that monitors the background loss or "evaporation" rate of antiprotons held in the trap during long storage periods; provides an independent method of validating particle lifetimes. The second is a high-speed sample rate accumulating information on a microseconds time-scale; useful when trapped antiparticles are extracted against a target, providing an indication of quantity. This paper details the layout of this system, setup of the hardware components around HiPAT, and applicable checkouts using normal matter radioactive sources.

Martin, James J.↗

NASA NTRS2002

Ion Storage Tests with the High Performance Antimatter Trap (HiPAT)

The NASA/Marshall Space Flight Centers (NASA/MSFC) Propulsion Research Center (PRC) is evaluating an antiproton storage system, referred to as the High Performance Antiproton Trap (HiPAT). This interest stems from the sheer energy represented by matter/antimatter annihilation process with has an energy density approximately 10 order of magnitude above that of chemical propellants. In other terms, one gram of antiprotons contains the equivalent energy of approximately 23 space shuttle external tanks or ET's (each ET contains roughly 740,000 kgs of fuel and oxidizer). This incredible source of stored energy, if harnessed, would be an enabling technology for deep space mission where both spacecraft weight and propulsion performance are key to satisfying aggressive mission requirements. The HiPAT hardware consists of a 4 Tesla superconductor system, an ultra high vacuum test section (vacuum approaching 10(exp -12) torr), and a high voltage confinement electrode system (up to 20 kvolts operation). The current laboratory layout is illustrated. The HiPAT designed objectives included storage of up to 1 trillion antiprotons with corresponding lifetimes approaching 18 days. To date, testing has centered on the storage of positive hydrogen ions produced in situ by a stream of high-energy electrons that passes through the trapping region. However, due to space charge issues and electron beam compression as it passes through the HiPAT central field, current ion production is limited to less then 50,000 ions. Ion lifetime was determined by counting particle populations at the end of various storage time intervals. Particle detection was accomplished by destructively expelling the ions against a micro-channel plate located just outside the traps magnetic field. The effect of radio frequency (RF) stabilization on the lifetime of trapped particles was also examined. This technique, referred to as a rotating wall, made use of a segmented electrode located near the center of the trap on which various phases of a particular frequency were applied. Various experiments were performed illustrating the ability of an RF drive to both prolong and reduced the lifetimes of various ion species depending on the selected frequency. HiPAT is now being reconfigured for testing with an ion source that will provide both positive and negative hydrogen ions from an external source. This ion system shall provide higher fill capacity (order of million of ions per shot), stacking of multiple shots, and injection schemes typical of a realistic antiproton delivery system.

Martin, James J.↗

NASA NTRS2002

RF Manipulation of Ions in the High Performance Antiproton Trap (HiPAT)

The annihilation of antimatter provides the highest mass specific energy of any other known reaction. Proper harnessing of this energy holds great promise for future space propulsion systems. Many different propulsion concepts have been proposed that take advantage of antimatter, either using matter-antimatter as the primary fuel, or as a 'spark plug' for fusion and fission systems. In order to begin to address these concepts experimentally, a method of storing and transporting antimatter must be developed. The High Performance Antiproton Trap (HiPAT) is a first-generation storage and transportation device designed to store and transport 10(exp 12) antiprotons with a storage half-life of 18 days. It uses a Penning-Malmberg ion trap with a 4T magnetic field and 20 kV potential. This will enable researchers much more flexibility in the design of antimatter experiments related to propulsion. Ions cannot be stored indefinitely in a real trap, as ion cloud instabilities develop from imperfections in manufacturing and misalignments in assembly. Previous work has been done at both the National Institute of Standards and University of California in San Diego in using RF (radio frequency) signals to both diagnose and confine the ion cloud. Two electrodes in the trap have been segmented to allow both reception and transmission of RF waves in the ion cloud. Experiments are underway to determine the number of ions and density in the cloud by "listening" to protons contained in the HiPAT. Currently we believe the density of ions stored in the trap is roughly 10(exp 15) m(exp -3). Development of non-destructive techniques is vital to the project goals, enabling continuous monitoring of the quantities stored in the system. Experimental work is also being done in identifying RF transmission frequencies that can manipulate the density of the cloud, by exchanging energy and momentum between the RF wave and the ions. Preliminary experiments have demonstrated this interaction.

Pearson, J. Boise↗

NASA NTRS2002

Overview of the High Performance Antiproton (HiPAT) Experiment

The annihilation of matter with antimatter represents the highest energy density of any known reaction, producing 10(exp 8) MJ/g, approximately 10 orders of magnitude more energy per unit mass than chemical based combustion. To take the first step towards using this energy for propulsion applications the NASA MSFC Propulsion Research Center (PRC) has initiated a research activity examining the storage of low energy antiprotons. Storage was identified as a key enabling technology since it builds the experience base necessary to understand the handling of antiprotons for virtually all utilization and high-density storage concepts. To address this need, a device referred to as the High Performance Antiproton Trap (HiPAT) is under development at the NASA MSFC PRC. The HiPAT is an electromagnetic system (Penning-Malmberg design) consisting of a 4 Tesla superconductor, a high voltage confinement electrode system (operation up to 20 KV), and an ultra high vacuum test section (operating in the 10(exp -12) torr range). The system was designed to be portable with an ultimate goal of maintaining 10(exp 12) charged particles with a half-life of 18 days. Currently, this system is being experimentally evaluated using normal matter ions which are cheap to produce and relatively easy to handle. These normal ions provide a good indication of overall trap behavior, with the exception of assessing annihilation losses. The ions are produced external to HiPAT using two hydrogen ion sources, with adjustable beam energy and current. Ion are transported in a beam line and controlled through the use of electrostatic optics. These optics serve to both focus and gate the incoming ions, providing microsecond-timed pulses that are dynamically captured by cycling the HiPAT electric containment field like a 'trap door'. The layout of this system more closely simulates the operations expected at an actual antiproton production facility where 'packets' of antiprotons with pulse widths measured in 100's of nanoseconds could be provided. Initial dynamic capture experiments have been performed with both trap and ton source system functioning at approximately 10% of maximum levels, minimizing the potential for extraneous effects. Dynamic trapping techniques demonstrated the successful capture of millions of hydrogen ions with good agreement with the predicted loading based on the timing sequence, trap electric field, and ion beam current. These techniques will be expanded to examine multiple shot capture or 'stacking' to increase the total number of ions stored within HiPAT.

Martin, James J.↗

NASA NTRS2001

Antimatter/HiPAT Support Services

Techniques were developed for trapping normal matter in the High Performance Antiproton Trap (HiPAT). Situations encountered included discharge phenomena, charge exchange and radial diffusion processes. It is important to identify these problems, since they will also limit the performance in trapping antimatter next year.

Lewis, Raymond A.↗

NASA NTRS1994

Antiproton catalyzed microfission/fusion propulsion

Inertial confinement fusion (ICF) utilizing an antiproton catalyzed hybrid fission/fusion target is discussed as a potential energy source for interplanetary propulsion. A proof-of-principle experiment underway at Phillips Laboratory, Kirtland AFB and antiproton trapping experiments at CERN, Geneva, Switzerland, are presented. The ICAN propulsion concept is described and results of performance analyses are reviewed. Future work to further define the ICAN concept is outlined.

Chiang, Pi-Ren↗

NASA NTRS1990

An antiproton catalyst for inertial confinement fusion propulsion

This paper discusses the concept of an inertial confinement fusion propulsion system involving an antiproton catalyst (for antiproton-induced fission). It is argued that, when the two processes, fusion and antimatter annihilation, are combined into one system, a viable candidate propulsion system for planetary exploration emerges. It is shown that as much as 7.6 GW of power, well within the requrements for interplanetary travel, can be achieved using existing driver technologies and available quantities of antiprotons.

Lewis, Raymond A.↗