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At the ReAccelerator within the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, a combination of an interchangeable aluminum foil and a silicon detector was developed to quantify isobaric contamination in rare isotope beams. The device is simple to operate and is now used routinely. In this article, we describe the system and show an application of the device to determine the level of contamination of an Si-32 rare isotope beam by stable S-32. In addition, we describe how the new diagnostic device helped confirm an enhancement of the beam purity prior to beam delivery to experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Power-flow studies on the 30-MA, 100-ns Z facility at Sandia National Laboratories have shown that plasmas in the facility's magnetically insulated transmission lines (MITLs) and double post-hole convolute can result in a loss of current delivered to the load. To study power-flow physics on the 1-MA, 100-ns MAIZE facility at the University of Michigan, planar MITL loads and planar post-hole convolute loads have been developed that extend into the lines of sight for various imaging diagnostics on MAIZE. These loads use 3D-printed dielectric support structures lined with thin foils of either aluminum or stainless steel. The metal foils serve as the current-carrying power-flow surfaces, which generate plasma during the current pulse. The foil thickness (50 µm) and widths (11.5–16 mm) are selected to ensure a sufficient linear current density (0.5–0.7 MA/cm) for plasma formation. Laser backlighting (532 nm) and visible-light self-emission imaging capture the overall plasma evolution in the anode–cathode gaps, including the gap closure velocities (1–4 cm/μs). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fine-structure x-ray spectra have been measured from foils with embedded tracer layers at two laser facilities. A suite of layered foils with thin Ti tracers under varied tamper layers was studied at both the Titan and the ALEPH 400 nm laser facilities, where Ti Heα emission was recorded using a high-resolution Bragg crystal spectrometer. Several indicators of plasma parameters are examined in the spectra, including temperature- and density-dependent line ratios and line broadening from Stark and opacity effects. Spectra indicate that (1) the plasma density at ALEPH is significantly higher than at Titan and (2) the electron temperature is high for near-surface layers at both facilities but drops more quickly with depth at ALEPH. These inferences of plasma conditions are consistent with differing levels of temporal contrast at each laser facility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report a straightforward beam splitter in the soft x-ray spectral range using a thin oxidized aluminum foil. As it allows us to monitor reliably shot-to-shot variations in energy and in energy distribution, this beam splitter is of high interest for the simultaneous use of diagnostics for soft x-rays sources. We measure a transmission of 0.5 and a reflectivity of 0.018 at 22.5° of incidence with a soft x-ray laser working at 32.8 nm. These values are in good agreement with the theory. As the theory predicts a reflectivity and a transmission of both 12% at 52.5° of incidence for 32.8 nm, it can also be useful for experiments that require the division and recombination of a beam, for instance, interferometry or pump-probe technique with an intense soft x-ray source. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single-ion monitoring is a key requirement for many energetic heavy-ion experiments, e.g., the laboratory simulation of the single event effect of semiconductor devices under heavy ion bombardments. We have developed a two-dimensional position-sensitive and timing monitor of individual ions. It is composed of a thin aluminum foil, a pair of microchannel plate detectors, and electrostatic and magnetic fields. When energetic heavy ions pass through the aluminum foil, secondary electrons generated on each side of the foil are guided by the fields to the corresponding detector. Both the hitting position and the arrival time of the secondary electrons on corresponding detectors are measured in coincidence. A test with an 241Am α source shows that the present monitor is capable of discriminating true events from heavy background radiations. A position resolution of 1.0 mm and a recording time resolution of 50 ns have been realized in the test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we describe a technique for fabricating ultrathin foils in cylindrical geometry for liner-plasma implosion experiments using sub-MA currents. Liners are formed by wrapping a 400 nm, rectangular strip of aluminum foil around a dumbbell-shaped support structure with a non-conducting center rod, so that the liner dimensions are 1 cm in height, 6.55 mm in diameter, and 400 nm in thickness. The liner-plasmas are imploded by discharging ~600 kA with ~200 ns rise time using a 1 MA linear transformer driver, and the resulting implosions are imaged four times per shot using laser-shadowgraphy at 532 nm. This technique enables the study of plasma implosion physics, including the magneto Rayleigh-Taylor, sausage, and kink instabilities on initially solid, imploding metallic liners with university-scale pulsed power machines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The simulation optimization and an experimental demonstration of improved performances of mega-electron-volt ultrafast electron diffraction (MeV UED) are reported in this paper. Using ultrashort high quality electron pulses from an S-band photocathode rf gun and a polycrystalline aluminum foil as the sample, we experimentally demonstrated an improved spatial resolution of MeV UED, in which the Debye–Scherrer rings of the (111) and (200) planes were clearly resolved. This result showed that MeV UED is capable to achieve an atomic level spatial resolution and a ∼100 fs temporal resolution simultaneously, and will be a unique tool for ultrafast structural dynamics studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A method for using charge injection devices (CIDs) for detection of high-energy charged particles from inertial-confinement fusion reactions is described. Because of the relatively small depletion region of the CID camera (depletion depth of ∼7 μm), aluminum foils are placed in front of the device to reduce the energy of the charged particles and maximize the energy deposited in the CID. Simultaneous measurements of 2H(d,p)3H protons with a CID and a surface barrier detector indicate that the CID is an efficient detector of charged fusion products. Tests using high energy alpha particles emitted from a radium-226 source are also reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of measurements were carried out with the TRasco Intense Proton Source (TRIPS) to determine the effectiveness of different materials as electron donors. It is well known that the use of boron nitride (BN) disks inside the plasma chamber increases the current extracted from microwave discharge ion sources, generating additional electrons. In the past, one of the two disks was replaced by a 40 μm Al2O3 coating over the extraction electrode, which gave some increase of current, but after less than 200 h was heavily damaged. The tests here reported concern three different options: (a) thicker Al2O3 layer (100 μm) deposited over the extraction electrode; a 1-mm-thick aluminium foil over which an alumina layer is deposited, inserted in the plasma chamber; a 5-mm-thick Al2O3 tube embedded in the plasma chamber of the TRIPS source (the outer diameter of the tube being slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the chamber). The tests were carried out in the same conditions as for magnetic field topology and only rf power and gas input were variable. Special attention was paid to the proton fraction. In fact, a higher proton fraction can be considered as a signature of the higher availability of electrons in the plasma. With the thick alumina tube not only was a better current and proton fraction observed but also a lower beam ripple and better stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A sample holder for high temperature (300 K

We have designed a compact and low-cost diagnostic system for spatiotemporal distributions of specific vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) emission lines from impurities in Compact Helical System (CHS) plasmas. The system consists of 20 channel absolute extreme ultraviolet photodiode arrays combined with interchangeable thin foil filters which have passbands in the VUV region. A compact mounting module which contains all the components including an in-vacuum preamplifier for immediate current–voltage conversion has been designed and successfully fabricated. A preliminary measurement with a single module using an aluminum foil filter has been carried out for monitoring the behavior of oxygen impurity in CHS, and initial results have been obtained. Two identical modules equipped with Versa Module European bus-based analog-digital converters will be available for future tomographic measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A simple, general purpose, all-metal flange-seal is described, operable in the temperature range from liquid helium to around 600 K. The design is based on cheap commercial Al foils and can replace the more expensive rubber, indium O rings, and copper gaskets, commonly used in small cells for diffraction and scattering measurements of neutrons and γ rays. Such a seal can also be used for connecting high-vacuum tubes and also in high-pressure work. © 2000 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on a new technique to accelerate flyer-plates to high velocities (∼5 km/s). In this work, a strong shock is created through direct laser ablation of a thin polyimide foil. Subsequent shock breakout of that foil results in the generation of a plasma characterized by a smoothly increasing density gradient and a strong forward momentum. Stagnation of this plasma onto an aluminum foil and the resultant momentum transfer accelerates a thin aluminum flyer-plate. The aluminum flyer-plate is then accelerated to a peak velocity of ∼5 km/s before impact with a transparent lithium fluoride (LiF) window. Simulations of the stagnating plasma ramp compression and wave reverberations within the flyer-plate suggest that the temperature at the flyer-plate impact surface is elevated by less than 50 °C. Optical velocimetry is used to measure the flyer-plate velocity and impact conditions enabling the shocked refractive index of LiF to be determined. The results presented here are in agreement with conventional flyer-plate measurements validating the use of plasma-accelerated flyer-plates for equation of state and impact studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the injection of an additional strong focused electron beam from a special designed electron gun into a magnetic electron cyclotron resonance confinement field. Utilization of a sequence of aluminum foils; Investigation of trajectories of the electrons in the magnetic field without plasma; Reflection mode electrons.