Engineering topics

Terzani, Davide

Publications and source records attributed to Terzani, Davide.

6 records

DOE OSTI2025

A Beamdump facility at Jefferson Lab

The potential of the intense secondary muon, neutrino, and (hypothetical) light dark matter beams at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab) is explored. These are produced in the high-power dumps with high-current electron beams. Light dark matter searches with the approved Beam Dump eXperiment (BDX) are driving the realization of a new underground vault behind Hall A that could be extended to a Beamdump Facility with little additional installations. High-energy muons created via the Bethe–Heitler process uniquely do not proceed through the more common pion production and decay channels. Several possible muon physics applications are highlighted. Neutrino detector technologies and experiments suitable for a beamdump facility are outlined.

Accelerator Physics↗

DOE OSTI2025

Measurement of directional muon beams generated at the Berkeley Lab Laser Accelerator

We present the detection of directional muon beams produced using a PW laser facility at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The muon source is a multi-GeV electron beam generated in a laser-plasma accelerator interacting with a high- converter target. The GeV photons resulting from the interaction are converted into a high-flux, directional muon beam via pair production. By employing scintillators to capture delayed events, we were able to identify the produced muons and characterize the source. Using theoretical knowledge of the muon production process combined with simulations that are in excellent agreement with the experiments, we demonstrate that laser-plasma accelerators have the capability of generating electron beams with characteristics suitable to produce GeV-scale muons that offer unique advantages with respect to the cosmic background. Laser-plasma-accelerator-based muon sources can therefore enhance muon imaging applications thanks to their compactness, directionality, and high yields, which reduce the exposure time by orders of magnitude compared to cosmic ray muons. Using the eant4-based simulation code we developed to gain insight into the experimental results, we can design future experiments and applications based on LPA-generated muons.

Terzani, Davide↗

DOE OSTI2025

Design Initiative for a 10 TeV pCM Wakefield Collider

This document outlines a community-driven Design Study for a 10 TeV pCM Wakefield Accelerator Collider. The 2020 ESPP Report emphasized the need for Advanced Accelerator R&D, and the 2023 P5 Report calls for the ``delivery of an end-to-end design concept, including cost scales, with self-consistent parameters throughout." This Design Study leverages recent experimental and theoretical progress resulting from a global R&D program in order to deliver a unified, 10 TeV Wakefield Collider concept. Wakefield Accelerators provide ultra-high accelerating gradients which enables an upgrade path that will extend the reach of Linear Colliders beyond the electroweak scale. Here, we describe the organization of the Design Study including timeline and deliverables, and we detail the requirements and challenges on the path to a 10 TeV Wakefield Collider.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

DOE OSTI2023

Beam delivery and beamstrahlung considerations for ultra-high energy linear colliders

As part of the Snowmass'21 community planning excercise, the Advanced Accelerator Concepts (AAC) community proposed future linear colliders with center-of-mass energies up to 15 TeV and luminosities up to 50 × 1034 cm -2 s -1 in a compact footprint. In addition to being compact, these machines must also be energy efficient. We identify two challenges that must be addressed in the design of these machines. First, the Beam Delivery System (BDS) must not add significant length to the accelerator complex. Second, beam parameters must be chosen to mitigate beamstrahlung effects and maximize the luminosity-per-power of the machine. In this paper, we review advances in plasma lens technology that will help to reduce the length of the BDS system, and we detail new Particle-in-Cell simulation studies that will provide insight into beamstrahlung mitigation techniques. We apply our analysis to both $e$ + $e$ - and $γγ$ colliders. The challenges and solutions described in this paper are considered independently. In conclusion, a unified, self-consistent concept for a BDS system for a 15 TeV linear collider will be the subject of future work.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

DOE OSTI2023

Design study for a compact, two-stage, laser-plasma-based source of positron beams

Owing to their large accelerating gradients, plasma-based accelerators have attracted considerable interest as potential drivers for future, compact electron–positron colliders. Despite great progress achieved in plasma-based electron acceleration, positron acceleration still remains a challenging task, with an efficient positron source being the prerequisite for such acceleration. Here a concept for a compact, two-stage plasma-based positron source is discussed. In the first stage the positrons are created by a multi GeV electron beam produced by a laser-plasma accelerator interacting with a solid density foil. In the second stage the positrons are captured and accelerated in a plasma wave driven by either an electron beam or a laser pulse. Three potential configurations of such a source are considered: (i) a single electron beam is used for both the creation of positrons in the foil and for driving the wakefield in the second stage; (ii) a train of two electron beams is used: the positrons produced by the trailing beam in the foil are captured and accelerated in the second stage by the plasma wave generated by the leading beam; and (iii) a single electron beam is used to produce positrons in the foil and an independent laser pulse is coupled to the second stage to drive the plasma wave. In conclusion, these three configurations show different degrees of effectiveness with positron capture efficiency, varying from less than a percent to almost half of all produced positrons.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

DOE OSTI2020

Toward an effective use of laser-driven very high energy electrons for radiotherapy: Feasibility assessment of multi-field and intensity modulation irradiation schemes

Radiotherapy with very high energy electrons has been investigated for a couple of decades as an effective approach to improve dose distribution compared to conventional photon-based radiotherapy, with the recent intriguing potential of high dose-rate irradiation. Its practical application to treatment has been hindered by the lack of hospital-scale accelerators. High-gradient laser-plasma accelerators (LPA) have been proposed as a possible platform, but no experiments so far have explored the feasibility of a clinical use of this concept. We show the results of an experimental study aimed at assessing dose deposition for deep seated tumours using advanced irradiation schemes with an existing LPA source. Measurements show control of localized dose deposition and modulation, suitable to target a volume at depths in the range from 5 to 10 cm with mm resolution. The dose delivered to the target was up to 1.6 Gy, delivered with few hundreds of shots, limited by secondary components of the LPA accelerator. Measurements suggest that therapeutic doses within localized volumes can already be obtained with existing LPA technology, calling for dedicated pre-clinical studies.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗