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At least 199 records · Page 11

Selected advances in the accelerator design of the Future Circular Electron-Positron Collider (FCC-ee)

In autumn 2023, the FCC Feasibility Study underwent a crucial “mid-term review”. We describe some accelerator performance risks for the proposed future circular electron-positron collider, FCC-ee, identified for, and during, the mid-term review. For the collider rings, these are the collective effects when running on the Z resonance – especially resistive wall, beam-beam, and electron cloud –, the beam lifetime, dynamic aperture, alignment tolerances, and beam-based alignment. For the booster, the primary concern is the vacuum system, with regard to impedance and effects of the residual gas. For the injector, the layout and the linac repetition rate are primary considerations. We discuss the various issues and report the planned mitigations.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Record high-gradient SRF beam acceleration at Fermilab

Here, many modern and future particle accelerators employ high gradient superconducting RF (SRF) to generate beams of high energy, high intensity and high brightness for research in high energy and nuclear physics, basic energy sciences, etc. In this paper we report the record performance large-scale SRF system with average beam accelerating gradient matching the International Linear Collider (ILC) specification of 31.5 MV m –1 . Design of the eight cavity 1.3 GHz SRF cryomodule, its performance without the beam and results of the system commissioning with high intensity electron beam at Fermilab Accelerator Science and Technology (FAST) facility are presented. We also briefly discuss opportunities for further beam studies and tests at FAST including those on even higher gradient and more efficient SRF acceleration, as well as exploration of the system performance with full ILC-type beam specifications.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Particle therapy for noncancer diseases

Radiation therapy using high-energy charged particles is generally acknowledged as a powerful new technique in cancer treatment. However, particle therapy in oncology is still controversial, specifically because it is unclear whether the putative clinical advantages justify the high additional costs. However, particle therapy can find important applications in the management of noncancer diseases, especially in radiosurgery. Extension to other diseases and targets (both cranial and extracranial) may widen the applications of the technique and decrease the cost/benefit ratio of the accelerator facilities. Future challenges in this field include the use of different particles and energies, motion management in particle body radiotherapy and extension to new targets currently treated by catheter ablation (atrial fibrillation and renal denervation) or stereotactic radiation therapy (trigeminal neuralgia, epilepsy, and macular degeneration). Particle body radiosurgery could be a future key application of accelerator-based particle therapy facilities in 10 years from today.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗

Strategy for Modernizing a 40-Year-Old Accelerator Control System

Modernizing the Fermilab accelerator control system is essential to future operations of the laboratory's accelerator complex. The existing control system has evolved over four decades and uses hardware that is no longer available and software that uses obsolete frameworks. The Accelerator Controls Operations Research Network (ACORN) Project will modernize the control system and replace end-of-life power supplies to enable future accelerator complex operations with megawatt particle beams. The project team is evaluating three design concepts, and the future deployment of artificial intelligence capabilities for accelerator operations is an important consideration. An overview of the ACORN Project will be presented, including R&D used for evaluating the conceptual designs in the context of requirements for future accelerator operations.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Accelerated dryland expansion regulates future variability in dryland gross primary production

Drylands cover 41% of the Earth’s land surface and are the largest source of interannual variability in the global carbon sink. While drylands are projected to experience an accelerated expansion over the next century, the implications of this expansion and degradation for variability in their gross primary production (GPP) remain elusive. Here we show that total dryland GPP by 2100 will increase by 12 ± 3% relative to the 2010–2014 baseline. Because drylands will largely expand into formerly more productive ecosystems, this increase in dryland GPP may not increase total global GPP. Further, GPP per unit dryland area will decrease as degradation of historical drylands outpaces the higher GPP of expanded drylands. Dryland expansion and climate-induced conversions among sub-humid, semi-arid, arid, and hyper-arid subtypes will lead to substantial changes in regional and subtype contributions to global dryland GPP variability. Our results highlight the vulnerability of dryland subtypes to more frequent and severe climate extremes and suggest that strong regional variations will require different mitigation strategies in different regions.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Positron acceleration in plasma wakefields

Plasma acceleration has emerged as a promising technology for future particle accelerators, particularly linear colliders. Significant progress has been made in recent decades toward high-efficiency and high-quality acceleration of electrons in plasmas. However, this progress does not generalize to the acceleration of positrons, as plasmas are inherently charge asymmetric. Here, we present a comprehensive review of historical and current efforts to accelerate positrons using plasma wakefields. Proposed schemes that aim to increase energy efficiency and beam quality are summarized and quantitatively compared. A dimensionless metric that scales with the luminosity-per-beam power is introduced, indicating that positron-acceleration schemes are currently below the ultimate requirement for colliders. The primary issue is electron motion; the high mobility of plasma electrons compared to plasma ions, which leads to nonuniform accelerating and focusing fields that degrade the beam quality of the positron bunch, particularly for high efficiency acceleration. Finally, we discuss possible mitigation strategies and directions for future research.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Molten Salt Targets for Future High-Power Accelerator Facilities

This talk will give an overview of will give an overview of recent work that began to examine the feasibility of molten salts as a target material for very high power beams as a potential solution for some of the present and future challenges of high power targetry at Fermilab, anchored by the F2D2 conceptual design study. This will include discussion of target and beam dump applications as well as likely challenges, potential for future R&D, projects, and synergy with existing high-power targetry research.

Williams, Jonathan K. [Fermilab]↗

Future Opportunities in Accelerator-based Neutrino Physics

This document summarizes the conclusions of the Neutrino Town Meeting held at CERN in October 2018 to review the neutrino field at large with the aim of defining a strategy for accelerator-based neutrino physics in Europe. The importance of the field across its many complementary components is stressed. Recommendations are presented regarding the accelerator based neutrino physics, pertinent to the European Strategy for Particle Physics. We address in particular i) the role of CERN and its neutrino platform, ii) the importance of ancillary neutrino cross-section experiments, and iii) the capability of fixed target experiments as well as present and future high energy colliders to search for the possible manifestations of neutrino mass generation mechanisms.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Hydrodynamic instability growth and mix experiments at the National Ignition Facility

Hydrodynamic instability growth and its effects on implosion performance were studied at the National Ignition Facility [G. H. Miller, E. I. Moses, and C. R. Wuest, Opt. Eng. 443, 2841 (2004)]. Implosion performance and mix have been measured at peak compression using plastic shells filled with tritium gas and containing embedded localized carbon-deuterium diagnostic layers in various locations in the ablator. Neutron yield and ion temperature of the deuterium-tritium fusion reactions were used as a measure of shell-gas mix, while neutron yield of the tritium-tritium fusion reaction was used as a measure of implosion performance. The results have indicated that the low-mode hydrodynamic instabilities due to surface roughness were the primary culprits for yield degradation, with atomic ablator-gas mix playing a secondary role. In addition, spherical shells with pre-imposed 2D modulations were used to measure instability growth in the acceleration phase of the implosions. The capsules were imploded using ignition-relevant laser pulses, and ablation-front modulation growth was measured using x-ray radiography for a shell convergence ratio of ∼2. The measured growth was in good agreement with that predicted, thus validating simulations for the fastest growing modulations with mode numbers up to 90 in the acceleration phase. Future experiments will be focused on measurements at higher convergence, higher-mode number modulations, and growth occurring during the deceleration phase.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Ni/Li Disordering in Layered Transition Metal Oxide: Electrochemical Impact, Origin, and Control

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) not only power most of today’s hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) and electric vehicles (EV) but also are considered as a very promising system for grid-level storage. Large-scale applications for LIBs require substantial improvement in energy density, cost, and lifetime. Layered Li(NixMnyCoz)O2 (NMC, x+y+z=1) materials from solid-solution approaches to LiMO2 (M = Ni, Mn, Co, etc) are the most promising candidates for their high reversible capacity, better environmental compatibility, and lower cost compared with the traditional LiCoO2. In order to further boost Li storage capacity, a great deal of attention has been directed toward developing Ni-rich NMCs. However, structural disorder as a result of Ni/Li exchange in octahedral sites becomes a critical issue when Ni content increases to high values, as it leads to a detrimental effect on Li diffusivity, cycling stability, first-cycle efficiency, and overall electrode performance. Increasing efforts have been dedicated to improving the electrochemical performance of NMC materials via reduction of cationic mixing. Therefore, it is important to summarize this research field and provide in-depth insight into impact of Ni/Li disorder on electrochemical characteristics in layered NMC materials and its origin to accelerate the future development of NMC materials with high performance. In this Account, we start by analyzing the impact of Ni/Li disorder on electrochemical characteristics in layered NMC materials. The antisite Ni in the Li layer can limit the rate performance by impeding the Li-ion transport. It will also degrade the cycling stability by inducing the anisotropic stress in the bulk structure. Nevertheless, the antisite Ni-ions don’t always bring drawbacks to the electrochemical performance, some studies including our works found that it can improve the thermal stability and the cycling structure stability of Ni-rich NMC materials. We next discussed the driving forces and the kinetic advantages accounting for the Ni/Li exchange and summarized that the steric effect of cation size and the magnetic interactions between TM cations are the two main driving forces to promote the Ni/Li exchange during synthesis procedure and the electrochemical cycling, and the low energy barrier of Ni2+ migration from the 3a site in TM layer to 3b site in Li layer further provides the kinetic advantage. Based on above understandings, we reviewed the progress made to control the Ni/Li disorder and summarized three main ways: (i) suppressing the driving force from the steric effect by ion exchange; (ii) tuning the magnetic interaction by cationic substitution; (iii) kinetic controlling of Ni migration. Finally, our brief outlooks on the future development of controlling the Ni/Li disorder in NMC materials are provided. It is believed that this Account will provide significant understanding and inspirations toward developing high-performance NMC materials with controlled Ni/Li disorder.

Zheng, Jiaxin↗

Accelerating computing for the future electric grid (CRADA Final Report)

As a participant in the Cyclotron Road Lab-Embedded Entrepreneurship Program (LEEP), Vellex Computing, Inc. has successfully validated the "Vellex Computing Stack," a breakthrough Analog Neural Computer (ANC) specifically designed for high-performance edge optimization. This project achieved critical milestones in mixed-signal circuit stability and software-hardware co-design, directly addressing national priorities in semiconductor resiliency. The success of this work is deeply rooted in the support from the Cyclotron Road LEEP, which provided the essential "hard tech" runway—funding, mentorship, and access to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s world-class characterization facilities—allowing Vellex to overcome the "Valley of Death" often faced by deep-tech hardware startups. By leveraging LBNL’s advanced testing infrastructure, Vellex was able to rigorously benchmark the ANC architecture against state-of-the-art digital solutions, a feat that would have been resource-prohibitive independently. This collaboration has not only advanced American leadership in analog computing but has also matured Vellex’s technology to a stage ripe for private sector commercialization.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

TeV/m Nano-Accelerator: Current Status of CNT-Channeling Acceleration Experiment

Crystal channeling technology has offered various opportunities in the accelerator community with a viability of ultrahigh gradient (TV/m) acceleration for future HEP collider. The major challenge of channeling acceleration is that ultimate acceleration gradients might require a high power driver in the hard x-ray regime (~ 40 keV). This x-ray energy exceeds those for x-rays as of today, although x-ray lasers can efficiently excite solid plasma and accelerate particles inside a crystal channel. Moreover, only disposable crystal accelerators are possible at such high externally excited fields which would exceed the ionization thresholds destroying the atomic structure, so acceleration will take place only in a short time before full dissociation of the lattice. Carbon-based nanostructures have great potential with a wide range of flexibility and superior physical strength, which can be applied to channeling acceleration. This paper presents a beam- driven channeling acceleration concept with CNTs and discusses feasible experiments with the Advanced Superconducting Test Accelerator (ASTA) in Fermilab.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗