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DOE OSTI2016

Self-modulated laser wakefield accelerators as x-ray sources

The development of a directional, small-divergence, and short-duration picosecond x-ray probe beam with an energy greater than 50 keV is desirable for high energy density science experiments. We therefore explore through particle-in-cell (PIC) computer simulations the possibility of using x-rays radiated by betatron-like motion of electrons from a self-modulated laser wakefield accelerator as a possible candidate to meet this need. Two OSIRIS 2D PIC simulations with mobile ions are presented, one with a normalized vector potential a0 = 1.5 and the other with an a0 = 3. We find that in both cases direct laser acceleration (DLA) is an important additional acceleration mechanism in addition to the longitudinal electric field of the plasma wave. Together these mechanisms produce electrons with a continuous energy spectrum with a maximum energy of 300 MeV for a0 = 3 case and 180 MeV in the a0 = 1.5 case. Forward-directed x-ray radiation with a photon energy up to 100 keV was calculated for the a0 = 3 case and up to 12 keV for the a0 = 1.5 case. The x-ray spectrum can be fitted with a sum of two synchrotron spectra with critical photon energies of 13 and 45 keV for the a0 of 3 and critical photon energies of 0.3 and 1.4 keV for a0 of 1.5 in the plane of polarization of the laser. The full width at half maximum divergence angle of the x-rays was 62 × 1.9 mrad for a0 =3and77×3.8mradfora0 =1.5.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2024

Technological developments and accelerator improvements for the FRIB beam power ramp-up

The Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) began operation with 1 kW beam power for scientific users in May 2022 upon completion of 8 years of project construction. The ramp-up to the ultimate beam power of 400 kW, planned over a 6-year period, will enable the facility to reach its full potential for scientific discovery in isotope science and applications. In December 2023, a record-high beam power of 10.4 kW uranium was delivered to the target. Technological developments and accelerator improvements are being made over the entire facility and are key to completion of the power ramp-up. Major technological developments entail the phased deployment of high-power beam-intercepting systems, including the charge strippers, the charge selection systems, the production target, and the beam dump, along with support systems, including non-conventional utilities (NCU) and remote handling facilities. Major accelerator improvements include renovations to aging legacy systems associated with experimental beam lines and system automation for improved operational efficiency and better machine availability. Experience must be gained to safely handle the increased radiological impacts associated with high beam power; extensive machine studies and advanced beam tuning procedures are needed to minimize uncontrolled beam losses for the desired operating conditions. This paper discusses the technological developments and accelerator improvements with emphasis on major R&D efforts.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2025

A high repetition rate millimeter wavelength accelerator for an X-ray free-electron laser

A compact collinear wakefield accelerator has been designed for an X-ray free-electron laser capable of operating at a pulse repetition rate in the tens of kilohertz. The maximum achievable accelerating gradient has been determined, with its limitation linked to beam breakup instability. The fabrication techniques for the principal components of the accelerator including wakefield generation, couplers for excess power extraction and diagnostics, focusing quadrupoles, and a novel undulator have been discussed. Results from various laboratory and beam-based tests on these components have been compared to their original design specifications and demonstrated very good agreement. A preliminary design for the XFEL has been presented, featuring a novel small-period, force-neutral, adjustable-phase undulator.

26 undulator↗
DOE OSTI2024

Laser-driven ion and electron acceleration from near-critical density gas targets: Towards high-repetition rate operation in the 1 PW, sub-100 fs laser interaction regime

Ion acceleration from gaseous targets driven by relativistic-intensity lasers was demonstrated as early as the late 1990s, yet most of the experiments conducted to date have involved picosecond-duration, Nd:glass lasers operating at low repetition rate. Here, we present measurements on the interaction of ultraintense ( ≈ 10 20 W cm − 2 , 1 PW ) , ultrashort ( ≈ 70 fs ) Ti:Sa laser pulses with near-critical ( ≈ 10 20 cm − 3 ) helium gas jets, a debris-free targetry with the potential for future compatibility with high ( ≈ 1 Hz ) repetition rate operation. We provide evidence of α particles being forward accelerated up to ≈ 2.7 − MeV energy with a total flux of ≈ 10 11 sr − 1 as integrated over > 0.1 − MeV energies and detected within a 0.5 − mrad solid angle. We also report on on-axis emission of relativistic electrons with an exponentially decaying spectrum characterized by a ≈ 10 − MeV slope, i.e., five times larger than the standard ponderomotive scaling. The total charge of these electrons with energy above 2 MeV is estimated to be of ≈ 1 nC , corresponding to ≈ 0.1 % of the laser drive energy. In addition, we observe the formation of a plasma channel, extending longitudinally across the gas density maximum and expanding radially with time. These results are well captured by large-scale particle-in-cell simulations, which reveal that the detected fast ions most likely originate from reflection off the rapidly expanding channel walls. The latter process is predicted to yield ion energies in the MeV range, which compare well with the measurements. Finally, direct laser acceleration is shown to be the dominant mechanism behind the observed electron energization. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Differentiable Neural Architecture, Mixed Precision and Accelerator Co-Search

Quantization, effective Neural Network architecture, and efficient accelerator hardware are three important design paradigms to maximize accuracy and efficiency. Mixed Precision Quantization is a process of assigning different precision to different Neural Network layers for optimized inference. Neural Architecture Search (NAS) is a process of automatically designing the neural network for a task and can also be extended to search for the precision of each weight and activation matrix. In this paper, we develop the following three methods: (i) Fast Differentiable Hardware-aware Mixed Precision Quantization Search method to find optimal precision, (ii) Joint Differentiable hardware-aware Architecture and Mixed Precision Quantization Co-search, (iii) Joint Accelerator, Architecture, and Precision triple co-search to find best possibilities in all the three worlds. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed methods targeting Bitfusion accelerator by searching mixed precision models on MobilenetV2. We achieve better accuracy-latency trade-off models than the manually designed and previously proposed search methods.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2024

Experimental Safe Extremum Seeking for Accelerators

Here, we demonstrate the recent designs of safe extremum seeking (Safe ES) on the 1-km-long charged particle accelerator at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE). Safe ES is a modification of extremum seeking (ES) which, in addition to minimizing an analytically unknown cost, also employs a safety filter based on an analytically unknown control barrier function (CBF) safety metric. Tuning is necessitated by accelerators being large complex systems, with many drifting parameters due to thermal effects and degradation. At the same time, safe operation (the maintenance of state constraints) is crucial, as damage brings astronomical costs, both financially and in operation downtime. Our measured (but analytically unknown) safety metric is the beam current. We perform multivariable Safe ES on three accelerator applications, in which we adapt 4, 6, and 3 magnet strength parameters, respectively. Two of the three applications are for validated simulation models of beamlines at LANSCE: the first for the proton radiography (pRad) beamline of 800-MeV protons for spot size tuning; the second on a high-performance code, HPSim, for tuning the low-energy beam transport (LEBT) region that contains a beam of 750-keV protons. The third is an experimental tuning of the steering magnets in the LEBT at LANSCE.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Acceleration of nonmonoenergetic electron bunches injected into a wake wave

The trapping and acceleration of nonmonoenergetic electron bunches in a wake field wave excited by a laser pulse in a plasma channel is studied. Electrons are injected into the region of the wake wave potential maximum at a velocity lower than the phase velocity of the wave. The paper analyzes the grouping of bunch electrons in the energy space emerging in the course of acceleration under certain conditions of their injection into the wake wave and minimizing the energy spread for such electrons. The factors determining the minimal energy spread between bunch electrons are analyzed. The possibility of monoenergetic acceleration of electron bunches generated by modern injectors in a wake wave is analyzed.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Tuning the DARHT Axis-II linear induction accelerator focusing

Flash radiography of large hydrodynamic experiments driven by high explosives is a well-known diagnostic technique in use at many laboratories, and the Dual-Axis Radiography for Hydrodynamic Testing (DARHT) facility at Los Alamos produces flash radiographs of large hydrodynamic experiments. Two linear induction accelerators (LIAs) make the bremsstrahlung radiographic source spots for orthogonal views of each test. The 2-kA, 20-MeV Axis-I LIA creates a single 60-ns radiography pulse. The 1.7-kA, 16.5-MeV Axis-II LIA creates up to four radiography pulses by kicking them out of a longer pulse that has a 1.6-μs flattop. The Axis-II injector, LIA, kicker, and downstream transport (DST) to the bremsstrahlung converter are described. Adjusting the magnetic focusing and steering elements to optimize the electron-beam transport through an LIA is often called 'tuning.' As in all high-current LIAs, the focusing field is designed to be as close to that of the ideal continuous solenoid as physically possible. In ideal continuous solenoidal transport a smoothly varying beam size can easily be found for which radial forces balance, and the beam is said to be 'matched' to the focusing field. A 'mismatched' beam exhibits unwanted oscillations in size, which are a source of free energy that contributes to emittance growth. This is undesirable, because in the absence of beam-target effects, the radiographic spot size is proportional to the emittance. Tuning the Axis-II LIA is done in two steps. First, the solenoidal focusing elements are set to values designed to provide a matched beam with little or no envelope oscillations, and little or no beam-breakup (BBU) instability growth. Then, steering elements are adjusted to minimize the motion of the centroid of a well-centered beam at the LIA exit. This article only describes the design of the tune for the focusing solenoids. The DARHT Axis-II LIA was required to be re-tuned after installing an accelerator cell to replace a failed solenoid in March of 2012. We took advantage of this opportunity to improve the design of the focusing tune with better models of the remaining partially failed solenoids, better estimates of beam initial conditions, and better values for pulsed-power voltages. As with all previous tunes for Axis-II, this one incorporates measures to mitigate beam-breakup (BBU) instability, image displacement instability (IDI), corkscrew (sweep), and emittance growth. Section II covers the general approach to of design of focusing solenoid tunes for the DARHT Axis-2 LIA. Section III explains the specific requirements and simulations needed to design the tune for the injector, which includes the thermionic electron source, diode, and six induction cells. Section IV explains the requirements and simulations for tuning the main accelerator, which consists of 68 induction cells. Finally, Section V explores sensitivity of the tune to deviations of parameters from nominal, random variations, and uncertainties in values. Four appendices list solenoid settings for this new tune, discuss comparisons of different simulation codes, show halo formation in mismatched beams, and present a brief discussion of the beam envelope equation, which is the heart of the method used to design LIA solenoid tunes.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2012

LANL Activities Supporting Electron Accelerator Production of 99 Mo for NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes, LLC

Summary of LANL FY12 Activities are: (1) Preparation, performance, and data analysis for the FY12 accelerator tests at ANL - (a) LANL designed and installed a closed-loop helium target cooling system at ANL for the FY12 accelerator tests, (b) Thermal test was performed on March 27, (c) 24 h production test to follow the accelerator upgrade at ANL; (2) Local target shielding design and OTR/IR recommendations - (a) Target dose rate and activation products were calculated with MCNPX, (b) 206 Pb(γ,2n) 204m Pb vs 204g Pb branching ratio unpublished, will measure using the LANL microtron, (c) OTR system nearing final configuration, (d) IR prototype system demonstrated during the recent thermal test at ANL; (3) Target housing lifetime estimation - Target housing material specifications and design to be finalized following the thermal test, lifetime not believed to be an issue; and (4) Target cooling system reliability - Long duration system characterizations will begin following the thermal test.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2013

Coaxial Two-Channel Dielectric Wake Field Accelerator

Theory, computations, and experimental apparatus are presented that describe and are intended to confirm novel properties of a coaxial two-channel dielectric wake field accelerator. In this configuration, an annular drive beam in the outer coaxial channel excites multimode wakefields which, in the inner channel, can accelerate a test beam to an energy much higher than the energy of the drive beam. This high transformer ratio is the result of judicious choice of the dielectric structure parameters, and of the phase separation between drive bunches and test bunches. A structure with cm-scale wakefields has been build for tests at the Argonne Wakefield Accelerator Laboratory, and a structure with mm-scale wakefields has been built for tests at the SLAC FACET facility. Both tests await scheduling by the respective facilities.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2014

High-gradient two-beam electron accelerator

The main goal for this project was to design, build, and evaluate a detuned-cavity, collinear, two-beam accelerator structure. Testing was to be at the Yale University Beam Physics Laboratory, under terms of a sub-grant from Omega-P to Yale. Facilities available at Yale for this project include a 6-MeV S-band RF gun and associated beam line for forming and transporting a ~1 A drive beam , a 300 kV beam source for use as a test beam, and a full panoply of laboratory infrastructure and test equipment. During the first year of this project, availability and functionality of the 6-MeV drive beam and 300 kV test beam were confirmed, and the beam line was restored to a layout to be used with the two-beam accelerator project. Major efforts during the first year were also focused on computational design and simulation of the accelerator structure itself, on beam dynamics, and on beam transport. Effort during the second year was focussed on building and preparing to test the structure, including extensive cold testing. Detailed results from work under this project have been published in twelve archival journal articles, listed in Section IV of the technical report.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Scaling of induction-cell transverse impedance: effect on accelerator design

The strength of the dangerous beam breakup (BBU) instability in linear induction accelerators (LIAs) is characterized by the transverse coupling impedance Z ⊥ . This note addresses the dimensional scaling of Z ⊥ , which is important when comparing new LIA designs to existing accelerators with known i BBU growth. Moreover, it is shown that the scaling of Z ⊥ with the accelerating gap size relates BBU growth directly to high-voltage engineering considerations. It is proposed to firmly establish this scaling though a series of AMOS calculations.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Corkscrew Motion of an Electron Beam due to Coherent Variations in Accelerating Potentials

Corkscrew motion results from the interaction of fluctuations of beam electron energy with accidental magnetic dipoles caused by misalignment of the beam transport solenoids. Corkscrew is a serious concern for high-current linear induction accelerators (LIA). A simple scaling law for corkscrew amplitude derived from a theory based on a constant-energy beam coasting through a uniform magnetic field has often been used to assess LIA vulnerability to this effect. We use a beam dynamics code to verify that this scaling also holds for an accelerated beam in a non-uniform magnetic field, as in a real accelerator. Results of simulations with this code are strikingly similar to measurements on one of the LIAs at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
NASA NTRS2009

Combined Modeling of Acceleration, Transport, and Hydrodynamic Response in Solar Flares: The Numerical Model - 1

Acceleration and transport of high-energy particles and fluid dynamics of atmospheric plasma are interrelated aspects of solar flares, but for convenience and simplicity they were artificially separated in the past. We present here self consistently combined Fokker-Planck modeling of particles and hydrodynamic simulation of flare plasma. Energetic electrons are modeled with the Stanford unified code of acceleration, transport, and radiation, while plasma is modeled with the Naval Research Laboratory flux tube code. We calculated the collisional heating rate directly from the particle transport code, which is more accurate than those in previous studies based on approximate analytical solutions. We repeated the simulation of Mariska et al. with an injection of power law, downward-beamed electrons using the new heating rate. For this case, a -10% difference was found from their old result. We also used a more realistic spectrum of injected electrons provided by the stochastic acceleration model, which has a smooth transition from a quasi-thermal background at low energies to a non thermal tail at high energies. The inclusion of low-energy electrons results in relatively more heating in the corona (versus chromosphere) and thus a larger downward heat conduction flux. The interplay of electron heating, conduction, and radiative loss leads to stronger chromospheric evaporation than obtained in previous studies, which had a deficit in low-energy electrons due to an arbitrarily assumed low-energy cutoff. The energy and spatial distributions of energetic electrons and bremsstrahlung photons bear signatures of the changing density distribution caused by chromospheric evaporation. In particular, the density jump at the evaporation front gives rise to enhanced emission, which, in principle, can be imaged by X-ray telescopes. This model can be applied to investigate a variety of high-energy processes in solar, space, and astrophysical plasmas.

STOCHASTIC ACCELERATION MODEL↗
DOE OSTI2012

The Influence of Accelerator Science on Physics Research

We evaluate accelerator science in the context of its contributions to the physics community. We address the problem of quantifying these contributions and present a scheme for a numerical evaluation of them. We show by using a statistical sample of important developments in modern physics that accelerator science has influenced 28% of post-1938 physicists and also 28% of post-1938 physics research. We also examine how the influence of accelerator science has evolved over time, and show that on average it has contributed to a physics Nobel Prize-winning research every 2.9 years.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Ultracompact Accelerator Technology for a Next-Generation Gamma-Ray Source

This presentation reported on the technology choices and progress manufacturing and testing the injector and accelerator of the 250 MeV ultra-compact Compton Scattering gamma-ray Source under development at LLNL for homeland security applications. This paper summarizes the status of various facets of current accelerator activities at LLNL. The major components for the X-band test station have been designed, fabricated, and await installation. The XL-4 klystron has been delivered, and will shortly be dressed and installed in the ScandiNova modulator. High power testing of the klystron into RF loads will follow, including adjustment of the modulator for the klystron load as necessary. Assembly of RF transport, test station supports, and accelerator components will follow. Commissioning will focus on processing the RF gun to full operating power, which corresponds to 200 MV/m peak electric field on the cathode surface. Single bunch benchmarking of the Mark 1 design will provide confidence that this first structure operates as designed, and will serve as a solid starting point for subsequent changes, such as a removable photocathode, and the use of various cathode materials for enhanced quantum efficiency. Charge scaling experiments will follow, partly to confirm predictions, as well as to identify important causes of emittance growth, and their scaling with charge. Multi-bunch operation will conclude testing of the Mark 1 RF gun, and allow verification of code predictions, direct measurement of bunch-to-bunch effects, and initial implementation compensation mechanisms. Modeling will continue and focus on supporting the commissioning and experimental program, as well as seeking to improve all facets of linac produced Compton gamma-rays.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2012

Advanced X-Band Test Accelerator for High Brightness Electron and Gamma Ray Beams

In support of Compton scattering gamma-ray source efforts at LLNL, a multi-bunch test stand is being developed to investigate accelerator optimization for future upgrades. This test stand will enable work to explore the science and technology paths required to boost the current 10 Hz monoenergetic gamma-ray (MEGa-Ray) technology to an effective repetition rate exceeding 1 kHz, potentially increasing the average gamma-ray brightness by two orders of magnitude. Multiple bunches must be of exceedingly high quality to produce narrow-bandwidth gamma-rays. Modeling efforts will be presented, along with plans for a multi-bunch test stand at LLNL. The test stand will consist of a 5.5 cell X-band rf photoinjector, single accelerator section, and beam diagnostics. The photoinjector will be a high gradient standing wave structure, featuring a dual feed racetrack coupler. The accelerator will increase the electron energy so that the emittance can be measured using quadrupole scanning techniques. Multi-bunch diagnostics will be developed so that the beam quality can be measured and compared with theory. Design will be presented with modeling simulations, and layout plans.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Accelerator Science: Circular vs. Linear

Particle accelerator are scientific instruments that allow scientists to collide particles together at incredible energies to study the secrets of the universe. However, there are many manners in which particle accelerators can be constructed. In this video, Fermilab’s Dr. Don Lincoln explains the pros and cons of circular and linear accelerators.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗