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An attractive feature of the inertial fusion energy (IFE) approach to commercial energy production is that the fusion driver is well separated from the fusion confinement chamber. This ''standoff'' feature means the driver is largely isolated from fusion reaction products. Further, inertial confinement fusion (ICF) target ignition (with modest gain) is now scheduled to be demonstrated at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) using a laser driver system. The NIF program will, to a considerable extent, validate indirectly-driven heavy-ion fusion (HIF) target designs for IFE. However, it remains that HIF standoff between the final focus system and the fusion target needs to be seriously addressed. In fact, there now exists a timely opportunity for the Office of Fusion Energy Science (OFES) to experimentally explore the feasibility of one of the attractive final transport options in the fusion chamber: the self-pinched transport mode. Presently, there are several mainline approaches for HIF beam transport and neutralization in the fusion chamber. These range from the (conservative) vacuum ballistic focus, for which there is much experience from high energy research accelerators, to highly neutralized ballistic focus, which matches well to lower voltage acceleration with resulting lower driver costs. Alternatively, Z-discharge channel transport and self-pinched transport in gas-filled chambers may relax requirements on beam quality and final focusing systems, leading to even lower driver cost. In any case, these alternative methods of transport, especially self-pinched transport, are unusually attractive from the standpoint of chamber design and neutronics. There is no requirement for low chamber pressure. Moreover, only a minuscule fraction of the fusion neutrons can escape from the chamber. Therefore, it is relatively easy to shield sensitive components, e-g., superconducting magnets from any significant neutron flux. Indeed, self-pinched transport and liquid wall protection endow DT fusion with many of the advantages of aneutronic fusion. The question is: will self-pinched transport work? Early theoretical studies indicated that self-pinched transport was not an option because net currents established in gas during beam injection were too small to cause beam pinching. However, recent numerical simulations using the 3D hybrid code IPROP3, including the effects of non-local ionization, indicate that self-pinched transport may be possible. The capability to test the concept exists today in scaled experiments using a high-current focused proton beam produced by the Gamble II pulsed-power accelerator at the Naval Research Laboratory. This White Paper describes the implications of the self-pinched transport approach to HIF power plant design and the relevance of proton experiments designed to test the concept. Near-term experiments and analysis are also suggested.

As part of the small induction recirculator development at LLNL, the authors are testing an injector and transport line that delivers 4 {micro}s beams of potassium with repetition rates up to 10 Hz at a nominal current of 2 mA. The normalized K-V equivalent emittance of the beams is near 0.02 {pi} mm-mrad and is mostly determined by the temperature of the source (0.1 eV). K{sup +} ions generated at 80 keV in a Pierce diode are matched to an alternating gradient transport line by seven electric quadrupoles. Two additional quads have been modified to serve as two-axis steerers. The matching section is followed by a transport section comprised of seven permanent magnet quadrupoles. Matching to this section is achieved by adjusting the voltages on the electric quadrupoles to voltages calculated by an envelope matching code. Measurements of beam envelope parameters are made at the matching section entrance and exit as well as at the end of the permanent magnet transport section. Beam current waveforms along the experiment are compared with results from a one-dimension longitudinal dynamics code. Initial experiments show particle loss occurring at the beam head as a result of overtaking. The apparatus is also being used for the development of non or minimally intercepting diagnostics for future recirculator experiments. These include capacitive monitors for determining beam line-charge density and position in the recirculator; flying wire scanners for beam position; and gated TV scanners for measuring beam profiles and emittance.

This report contains a discussion of the diagnostics required for the beam propagation experiment to be done with the ATA accelerator. Included are a list of the diagnostics needed; a description of the ATA experimental environment; the status of beam diagnostics available at Livermore including recent developments, and a prioritized list of accelerator and propagation diagnostics under consideration or in various stages of development.

The Lawrence Livermore Laboratory is constructing an induction linac with the following parameters 10kA, 50ns FWHM pulse width, 5MeV, and 5PPS. This paper describes the design features of the 2.5 MeV injector and it's associated pulsed power system.

At normal incidence, the back scattered, forward scattered and 90/sup 0/ scattered cross sections of the beam were measured at 24 GHz for air and nitrogen at 500 torr pressure. For a single pulse, the measured radius of the beam was 4.3 mm at Z = 80 cm, whereas in a burst the radius decreased to 2.5 mm for the fifth pulse. This corresponds to a density reduction of a factor of 5 and corresponds to a channel temperature of 1200/sup 0/C. Within experimental error, the observed cross sections were those to be expected from a metal rod of these dimensions. There was no evidence of any enhancement in cross section at long times as might be expected from a hydrodynamic channel instability. However, receiver noise would have masked any fluctuations present. The cross sections were also measured with the microwave beam forming an angle of 10/sup 0/ with the electron beam. The backscatter cross section and the bistatic cross section to a second antenna forming an angle of 10/sup 0/ with the beam was also measured. In air, the bistatic and monostatic cross sections were approximately 10 db higher than expected from the beam size measurement, i.e, the returnsmore » observed were those one would expect from a good conducting rod approximately 5 cm radius. In nitrogen, the bistatic cross section was the same as air, but the monostatic cross section was 30 db larger than expected. This result is probably due to sausaging induced in the channel by an axial magnetic field. It could, however, be an indication of a fast growing hydrodynamic instability.« less

This report contains a description of the initial ETA propagation experiments in air at a beam current of 4.5 kA. The beam was observed to propagate at the pressures anticipated on the basis of previous theory and experiment. A comparison of measured net current waveforms with predictions of the PHOENIX code showed good agreement over the pressure range 0.1 to 200 torr. However, the beam was observed to expand with Z at a faster rate than theory predicts. Excessive transverse beam modulation at injection complicated the experiments and limited their comparison with theory.

This work reports initial tests of a carbon brush or tuft cathode intended for use by the Beam Research Program. It was found that electric fields of approximately 100 kV/cm were required to produce current densities above 20 A/sq cm. The beam extracted from the cathode consisted of many beamlets - one for each tuft. The beamlets were found to be quite uniform in peak current density and the cathode operation was microscopically repeatable. The turn-on time was estimated to be 200 ns.