Beam clean-up zone calculations for 2.5MV, 1.4kA experiments on DARHT-2
The injector for the second axis of the Dual-Axis Radiographic Hydrotest Facility (DARHT) produces 2 us, 2kA, 3.2 MeV electron beam with a nominal rise time of 600 ns. The injector diode is powered through a ceramic column by a Marx generator. The off-energy electrons (beam head and tail) during the rise and fall time are mismatched to the magnetic transport channel. These electrons may hit the accelerating gaps, resulting in insulator flashover or a vacuum arc. The beam cleanup zone (BCUZ) has been designed to remove low energy beam electrons and to keep mismatched charge from reaching the downstream accelerator. Eliminating the beam head requires a strongly dispersive magnetic field tune in the BCUZ. In this paper, we will present simulation results on developing a beam clean-up tune and on the beam transport through BCUZ for 2.5MeV, 1.4kA experiments on DARHT-2 using the particle-in-cell code Lsp and the envelope code Lamda. The energy loss and wall temperature rise, electron stimulated desorption due to beam scrape-off in the BCUZ and the effects of slow approach to the flat top on transport of the beam body are also investigated. In addition, the experimentally measured voltage profiles for the injector diode and the accelerating cells were used in these simulations. The current transport from Lamda calculations is compared with Lsp results.
DARHT-II commissioning status
The dual axis radiographic hydrotest facility (DARHT) at Los Alamos National Laboratory produces flash radiographs of hydrodynamic experiments using two linear induction accelerators situated on orthogonal axes. The first axis accelerator is operational and has produced radiographs of hydrodynamic experiments. The second axis accelerator, which is in the commissioning stage, will generate an 18-MeV, 2-kA, 2-/spl mu/s electron beam. These parameters are reduced during the initial phase of commissioning to /spl ges/12-MeV, /spl ges/1-kA, and /spl ges/350-ns. These reduced parameters allow lower voltages and fewer components than what will be necessary for the final machine. This paper presents experimental results of commissioning the second axis DARHT accelerator, including an overview of the pulsed power system plus electrical performance data from the 3-MV injector Marx generator and the 200-kV, 2-/spl mu/s induction accelerator cells. Beam transport data will also be presented.
Magnetic plasma confinement for laser ion source.
A laser ion source (LIS) can easily provide a high current beam. However, it has been difficult to obtain a longer beam pulse while keeping a high current. On occasion, longer beam pulses are required by certain applications. For example, more than 10 micros of beam pulse is required for injecting highly charged beams to a large sized synchrotron. To extend beam pulse width, a solenoid field was applied at the drift space of the LIS at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The solenoid field suppressed the diverging angle of the expanding plasma and the beam pulse was widened. Also, it was observed that the plasma state was conserved after passing through a few hundred gauss of the 480 mm length solenoid field.