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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 1,657 records · Page 92
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2011

Efficient laser-proton acceleration from an insulating foil with an attached small metal disk

Efficient proton acceleration by the interaction of an intense femtosecond laser pulse with a solid foil has been demonstrated. An aluminum coating (thickness: 0.2 {mu}m) on a polyethylene (PE) foil was irradiated at 2 x 10{sup 18} W/cm{sup 2} intensity. The protons from the aluminum-disk (diameter: 150 {mu}m to 15 mm) foil were accelerated to much higher energy in comparison with conventional targets such as PE and aluminum-coated PE foils. The fast electron signal along the foil surface was significantly higher from the aluminum-coated PE foil. The laser-proton acceleration appeared to be affected to the size of surrounding conductive material.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Acceleration of non-relativistic electrons at a dielectric grating structure: Status report

We report on an experiment aiming at a proof-of-concept of a non-relativistic direct laser accelerator. The system is based on a fused-silica transmission grating illuminated by Titanium:sapphire femtosecond pulses in order to excite evanescent spatial modes, which propagate synchronously with 28 keV electrons originating from an electron column of a scanning electron microscope. The grating period is 750 nm, and we use the third spatial harmonic to continuously accelerate the non-relativistic electrons. With a laser pulse energy of about 150 nJ numerical simulations show expected accelerating gradients of up to 60 MeV/m and an energy gain of around 300 eV at a distance of 100 nm away from the grating surface. The current status of the experiment is reported.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Beam dynamics and wakefield simulations of the double grating accelerating structure

Laser-driven acceleration in dielectric structures can provide gradients on the order of GeV/m. The small transverse dimension and tiny feature sizes introduce challenges in design, fabrication, and simulation studies of these structures. In this paper we present the results of beam dynamic simulation and short range longitudinal wakefield simulation of the double grating structure. We show the linear trend of acceleration in a dielectric accelerator design and calculate the maximum achievable gradient equal to 0.47E{sub 0} where E0 is maximum electric field of the laser excitation. On the other hand, using wakefield simulations, we show that the loss factor of the structure with 400nm gap size will be 0.12GV/m for a 10fC, 100as electron bunch which is an order of magnitude less than expected gradient near damage threshold of the device.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2012

The LILIA experiment: Energy selection and post-acceleration of laser generated protons

The LILIA experiment is planned at the SPARCLAB facility of the Frascati INFN laboratories. We have simulated the laser acceleration of protons, the transport and energy selection with collimators and a pulsed solenoid and the post-acceleration with a compact high field linac. For the highest achievable intensity corresponding to a= 30 over 10{sup 8} protons at 30 MeV with a 3% spread are selected, and at least10{sup 7} protons are post-accelerated up to 60 MeV. If a 10 Hz repetition rated can be achieved the delivered dose would be suitable for the treatment of small superficial tumors.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Multiple pulse resonantly enhanced laser plasma wakefield acceleration

We present an outline of experiments being conducted at Oxford University on multiple-pulse, resonantly-enhanced laser plasma wakefield acceleration. This method of laser plasma acceleration uses trains of optimally spaced low energy short pulses to drive plasma oscillations and may enable laser plasma accelerators to be driven by compact and efficient fibre laser sources operating at high repetition rates.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2013

The MESA accelerator

The MESA accelerator will operate for particle and nuclear physics experiments in two different modes. A first option is conventional c.w. acceleration yielding 150-200MeV spin-polarized external beam. Second, MESA will be operated as a superconducting multi-turn energy recovery linac (ERL), opening the opportunity to perform experiments with a windowless target with beam current of up to 10 mA. The perspectives for innovative experiments with such a machine are discussed together with a sketch of the accelerator physics issues that have to be solved.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2013

Beam loading in a laser-plasma accelerator using a near-hollow plasma channel

Beam loading in laser-plasma accelerators using a near-hollow plasma channel is examined in the linear wake regime. It is shown that, by properly shaping and phasing the witness particle beam, high-gradient acceleration can be achieved with high-efficiency, and without induced energy spread or emittance growth. Both electron and positron beams can be accelerated in this plasma channel geometry. Matched propagation of electron beams can be achieved by the focusing force provided by the channel density. For positron beams, matched propagation can be achieved in a hollow plasma channel with external focusing. The efficiency of energy transfer from the wake to a witness beam is calculated for single ultra-short bunches and bunch trains.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2014

The phase-lock dynamics of the laser wakefield acceleration with an intensity-decaying laser pulse

An electron beam with the maximum energy extending up to 1.8 GeV, much higher than the dephasing limit, is experimentally obtained in the laser wakefield acceleration with the plasma density of 3.5 × 10{sup 18} cm{sup −3}. With particle in cell simulations and theoretical analysis, we find that the laser intensity evolution plays a major role in the enhancement of the electron energy gain. While the bubble length decreases due to the intensity-decay of the laser pulse, the phase of the electron beam in the wakefield can be locked, which contributes to the overcoming of the dephasing. Moreover, the laser intensity evolution is described for the phase-lock acceleration of electrons in the uniform plasma, confirmed with our own simulation. Since the decaying of the intensity is unavoidable in the long distance propagation due to the pump depletion, the energy gain of the high energy laser wakefield accelerator can be greatly enhanced if the current process is exploited.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
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 OSTI2011

Generation and Characterization of Electron Bunches with Ramped Current Profiles in a Dual-Frequency Superconducting Linear Accelerator

We report on the successful experimental generation of electron bunches with ramped current profiles. The technique relies on impressing nonlinear correlations in the longitudinal phase space using a superconducing radiofrequency linear accelerator operating at two frequencies and a current-enhancing dispersive section. The produced {approx} 700-MeV bunches have peak currents of the order of a kilo-Ampere. Data taken for various accelerator settings demonstrate the versatility of the method and in particular its ability to produce current profiles that have a quasi-linear dependency on the longitudinal (temporal) coordinate. The measured bunch parameters are shown, via numerical simulations, to produce gigavolt-per-meter peak accelerating electric fields with transformer ratios larger than 2 in dielectric-lined waveguides.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
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 OSTI2011

Experimental results from the VENUS-F critical reference state for the GUINEVERE accelerator driven system project

The GUINEVERE (Generation of Uninterrupted Intense Neutron pulses at the lead Venus Reactor) project was launched in 2006 within the framework of FP6 EUROTRANS in order to validate on-line reactivity monitoring and subcriticality level determination in Accelerator Driven Systems. Therefore the VENUS reactor at SCK.CEN in Mol (Belgium) was modified towards a fast core (VENUS-F) and coupled to the GENEPI-3C accelerator built by CNRS The accelerator can operate in both continuous and pulsed mode. The VENUS-F core is loaded with enriched Uranium and reflected with solid lead. A well-chosen critical reference state is indispensable for the validation of the on-line subcriticality monitoring methodology. Moreover a benchmarking tool is required for nuclear data research and code validation. In this paper the design and the importance of the critical reference state for the GUINEVERE project are motivated. The results of the first experimental phase on the critical core are presented. The control rods worth is determined by the rod drop technique and the application of the Modified Source Multiplication (MSM) method allows the determination of the worth of the safety rods. The results are implemented in the VENUS-F core certificate for full exploitation of the critical core. (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2011

Suppressing Thermal Energy Drift In The LLNL Flash X-Ray Accelerator Using Linear Disk Resistor Stacks

This paper addresses thermal drift in sodium thiosulfate liquid resistors and their replacement with linear disk resistors from HVR Advanced Power Components. Sodium thiosulfate resistors in the FXR induction linear accelerator application have a temperature coefficient of {approx}1.8%/C. The FXR Marx banks send an 8kJ pulse through eight 524 cm{sup 3} liquid resistors at a repetition rate of up to 1 every 45 seconds. Every pulse increases the temperature of the solution by {approx}0.4 C which produces a 0.7% change in resistance. The typical cooling rate is {approx}0.4 C per minute which results in {approx}0.1% energy drop per pulse during continuous pulsed operations. A radiographic accelerator is extraordinarily sensitive to energy variations. Changes in beam energy produce movement in beam transport, changes in spot size, and large dose variations. If self-heating were the only problem, we could predict the increase in input voltage required to compensate for the energy loss. However, there are other variables that influence the temperature of the resistors such as focus magnet heating, changes in room temperature, changes in cooling water, where the cell is located, etc. Additionally not all of the resistors have equivalent cooling rates and as many as 32 resistors are driven from a single power source. The FXR accelerator group elected to replace the sodium thiosulfate resistors with HVR Linear Disk Resistors in a stack type configuration. With data limited for these resistors when used in oil and at low resistance values, a full characterization needed to be performed. High currents (up to 15kA), high voltages (up to 400kV), and Fast Rise times (<10ns) made a resistor choice difficult. Other solid resistors have been tried and had problems at the connection points and with the fact that the resistivity changed as they absorbed oil. The selected HVR resistors have the advantage of being manufactured with the oil impregnated in to them so this characteristic is minimized while still offering the desired low temperature coefficient of resistance compared to sodium thiosulfate. The characterization experiments and comparison with the sodium thiosulfate liquid resistors will be fully discussed and the final design described.

42 ENGINEERING↗
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↗