Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “Particle acceleration”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 1,747 records · Page 97
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1975

Acceleration of charged particles in oblique MHD shocks

The motion of high energy charged particles in ideal oblique MHD shocks has been studied extensively. The orbits of charged particles can be solved exactly from Lorentz force equation. It is found that a charged particle may cross the shock front many times before it leaves the shock and it is energized during crossings. The most energetic particles are those with initial pitch and phase near the boundary between crossing and reflected particles. The reflected particles cross the shock about twice as many times as the passing particles do. The energy gain increases for larger values of shock strength and speed. If reflection occurs, the energy gain is larger for smaller angles between the field and shock surface. The introduction of scattering results in a few more higher energy particles.

Chen, G.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Charged particle diffusion and acceleration in Saturn's radiation belts

In the present paper, an attempt is made to determine, from the observed intensity profiles for protons and electrons in the region of L smaller than 4, whether population of Saturn's innermost trapped radiation zones from an external source is possible. It is found that if diffusion proceeds in an episodic rather than a steady-state manner (long periods of quiescence interrupted by brief periods of rapid diffusion), the basic features of the observed phase space density profiles are qualitatively reproduced for both the trapped protons and electrons.

Mckibben, R. B.↗
NASA NTRS1995

A review of solar wind ion and electron plasma distribution functions: Present understanding and Ulysses results

Our present understanding of the distribution functions of the solar wind ion and electron thermal/suprathermal populations will be reviewed covering selected theoretical and observational topics. Roughly half the review will be devoted to recent discoveries (since Solar Wind 7). Among recent results are those of the Ulysses mission. The SWICS experiment observed pick-up protons and alpha particles, and acceleration of these particles at interplanetary shocks. Positive ion phenomena observed by SWOOPS include enhanced proton-alpha particle differential streaming both: (1) at high latitudes; and (2) in the ecliptic beyond 1 AU in the vicinity of shocks. The SWOOPS positive ion observations also demonstrate relative constancy of the entropy per proton at high latitudes beyond about 2.5 AU. Double beaming in both protons and alphas is observed by SWOOPS on either side of the current sheet, but not within; a possible explanation is reconnection at the edge of the current sheet. SWOOPS observed bi-directional streaming of electrons beyond 2 AU not only within Coronal Mass Ejections, but also upstream of corotating interplanetary shocks. Latitudinal and radial gradients of Ulysses electron core and halo temperatures will be discussed, as will work in progress on the three dimensional (in velocity space) properties of ion distributions.

Goldstein, B. E.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Fermi Detection of Gamma-Ray Emission from the M2 Soft X-Ray Flare on 2010 June 12

The GOES M2-class solar flare, SOL2010-06-12T00:57, was modest in many respects yet exhibited remarkable acceleration of energetic particles. The flare produced an approximately 50 s impulsive burst of hard X- and gamma-ray emission up to at least 400 MeV observed by the Fermi GBM and LAT experiments. The remarkably similar hard X-ray and high-energy gamma-ray time profiles suggest that most of the particles were accelerated to energies greater than or equal to 300 MeV with a delay of approximately 10 s from mildly relativistic electrons, but some reached these energies in as little as approximately 3 s. The gamma-ray line fluence from this flare was about ten times higher than that typically observed from this modest GOES class of X-ray flare. There is no evidence for time-extended greater than 100 MeV emission as has been found for other flares with high-energy gamma rays.

Ackermann, M.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Whitepaper submitted to Snowmass21: Advanced accelerator linear collider demonstration facility at intermediate energy

It is widely accepted that the next lepton collider beyond a Higgs factory would require center-of-mass energy of the order of up to 15 TeV. Since, given reasonable space and cost restrictions, conventional accelerator technology reaches its limits near this energy, high-gradient advanced acceleration concepts are attractive. Advanced and novel accelerators (ANAs) are leading candidates due to their ability to produce acceleration gradients on the order of 1--100~GV/m, leading to compact acceleration structures. Over the last 10-15 years significant progress has been achieved in accelerating electron beams by ANAs. For example, the demonstration of several-GeV electron beams from laser-powered capillary discharge waveguides, as well as the proof-of-principle coupling of two accelerating structures powered by different laser pulses, has increased interest in ANAs as a viable technology to be considered for a compact, TeV-class, lepton linear collider. However, intermediate facilities are required to test the technology and demonstrate key subsystems. A 20-100 GeV center-of-mass energy ANA-based lepton collider can be a possible candidate for an intermediate facility. Apart from being a test beam facility for accelerator and detector studies, this collider will provide opportunities to study muon and proton beam acceleration, investigate charged particle interactions with extreme electromagnetic fields (relevant for beam delivery system designs and to study the physics at the interaction point), as well as precision Quantum Chromodynamics and Beyond the Standard Model physics measurements. Possible applications of this collider include the studies of $\gamma\gamma$ and $e$-ion collider designs.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Measurement and Control of Beam Energy at the Fermilab 400 MeV Transfer Line

Linac is the first machine in the Accelerator chain at Fermilab where particles are accelerated from 35 keV to 400 MeV and travel to the Booster where they are stripped of the extra electrons to become protons. Tuning Linac is performed using diagnostics to ensure stable intensity and energy while minimizing uncontrolled particle loss. I have been revisiting diagnostics in the Linac in order to understand their signals and to ensure their data is reliable. I revisited Beam Loss Monitors (BLMs) for the loss data confidence. For the confidence of energy data there were two approaches. The first approach was time-of-flight measurements using Beam Position Monitors (BPMs) and beam velocity stripline pick-up that provides beam phase data. The second approach used the relation between beam position data from BPMs and dispersion values from MAD-X simulation to calculate energy. Our goal after understanding the data from the Linac diagnostics and finding the data reliable is to control the L inac parameters using Machine Learning techniques to increase the reliability and quality of beam delivered from Linac.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Flash radiotherapy accelerator

Methods, devices and systems for ultra-high dose radiotherapy are disclosed. The described techniques rely in-part on active switching control of a photoconductive switch during the time the accelerator is accelerating charged particles to produce the output radiation at the desired dose rates. One flash radiotherapy system includes an induction accelerator, and a controllable switch coupled to the induction accelerator. The switch is operable to produce a plurality of voltage pulses to drive the induction accelerator. The radiotherapy system also includes a radiation measurement device to measure output radiation produced by the radiotherapy system and provide feedback to the controllable switch. The controllable switch is operable to, based on the received feedback, modify an amplitude, shape, spacing, number or width of the voltage pulses that are supplied to the particle accelerator to deliver the desired output radiation.

Sampayan, Stephen E.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Solar particles /observations, relationship to the sun acceleration, interplanetary medium/

The major features of the propagation of flare particles in the interplanetary medium are discussed in terms of the classic well-behaved flare having unique impulsive injection and a smooth time profile. Topics include flare events, their frequency of occurrence, development of a typical event, energy spectra, proton and electron types, charge and isotopic composition, solar flares and particle accelerations, radio and X-ray observations, the Fermi mechanism, the betatron mechanism, acceleration models, plasma instabilities, two-stage acceleration, propagation mechanisms, the anisotropic stage, the diffusive stage, and the convection and energy loss stage.

Mcdonald, F. B.↗
DOE OSTI2020

Vacuum acceleration of electrons in a dynamic laser pulse

A planar laser pulse propagating in vacuum can exhibit an extremely large ponderomotive force. This force, however, cannot impart net energy to an electron: As the pulse overtakes the electron, the initial impulse from its rising edge is completely undone by an equal and opposite impulse from its trailing edge. Here we show that planar-like “flying focus” pulses can break this symmetry, imparting relativistic energies to electrons. The intensity peak of a flying focus—a moving focal point resulting from a chirped laser pulse focused by a chromatic lens—can travel at any subluminal velocity, forward or backward. As a result, an electron can gain enough momentum in the rising edge of the intensity peak to outrun and avoid the trailing edge. Accelerating the intensity peak can further boost the momentum gain. Furthermore, theory and simulations demonstrate that these dynamic intensity peaks can backwards accelerate electrons to the MeV energies required for radiation and electron diffraction probes of high-energy-density materials.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Excessive charge, beam loading, and impedance collapse thresholds for a velvet emitter

Excess emission has been observed from velvet cathodes with total emission times >150 ns. In this diode experiment, we produce a sub-relativistic electron beam with the ability to consistently change γ from 1.2 to 1.5 and β = 0.5–0.75. Electron emission in this particular diode geometry requires electric fields >40 kV/cm. The current increases at steady rates >0.05 A/ns after the head of the pulse, indicating an expansion of the emission surface and reduction in the effective AK gap. Small transients of excess emission (or arcs) are consistently observed for current pulses exceeding 150 ns. The excess emission results in beam loaded levels ≥10 kV on the diode voltage. The effects described here are compounded as diode voltage is increased. The principal objective of these experiments is to quantify electric field emission thresholds, current ramps, excess emission delays, effective beam loading, and impedance collapse.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗