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The worldwide heavy-ion fusion effort has made a large amount of progress over almost three decades of research on the intense beam physics and concepts needed for an inertial fusion driver. In the 1970s, ‘80s, and ‘90s in the US, most experiments used driver parameters scaled to low energy and low line charge density in order to study, most often with a single beam, the physics of high-perveance beams. More recently, the US program has introduced higher line charge density experiments, where the beam space charge potential is significant. This allows investigation of the production, and effect on the beam, of stray electrons. Increasingly, the possibilities for neutralizing plasmas are also being investigated, both just upstream and in the target chamber. This talk will outline the scientific issues that remain to be examined. These include issues of longitudinal compression, dynamic aperture, electron/ion instabilities, effect of electrons and gas on the beam, longitudinal emittance evolution, halo production, inductive effects at high energy, multiple beams, innovative final focus approaches, and driver issues for solenoidal transport. An outline of future experiments to address these issues will be presented and discussed.

In this paper we report on two Heavy Ion Fusion (HIF) driver point design studies. The Robust Point Design (RPD) was completed over a year ago, and the Modular Point Design (MPD) is still in progress. The goal of any point design study is to construct a detailed design that is self-consistent and integrated from injector to target. This has been the primary theme of both studies.

The Heavy Ion Fusion Virtual National Laboratory (HIF–VNL), a collaboration among LBNL, LLNL, and PPPL, is presently focused on separate smaller-scale scientific experiments addressing key issues of future Inertial Fusion Energy (IFE) and High-Energy-Density-Physics (HEDP) drivers: the injection, transport, and focusing of intense heavy ion beams at currents from 25 to 600 mA. As a next major step in the HIF–VNL program, we aim for a fully integrated beam physics experiment, which allows integrated source-to-target physics research with a high-current heavy ion beam of IFE-relevant brightness with the goal of optimizing target focusing. This paper describes two rather different options for such an integrated experiment, the Integrated Beam Experiment (IBX) and the Neutralized Drift Compression Experiment (NDCX). Both proposals put emphasis on the unique capability for integrated injection, acceleration, compression, and focusing of a high-current, space-charge-dominated heavy ion beam.

Significant experimental and theoretical progress has been made in the U.S. heavy ion fusion program on high-current sources, transport, and focusing. Currents over 200 mA have been transported through a matching section and 10 half-lattice periods with electric quadrupoles. An experiment shows control of high-beam current with an aperture, while avoiding secondary electrons. New theory and simulations of the neutralization of intense beam space charge with plasma in various focusing chamber configurations predict that near-emittance-limited beam focal spot sizes can be obtained even with beam perveance (ratio of beam space potential to ion energy) >10× higher than in earlier HIF focusing experiments. Progress in a new focusing experiment with plasma neutralization up to 10−3 perveance, and designs for a next-step experiment to study beam brightness evolution from source to target are described.

In the planned heavy-ion Integrated Research Experiments (IRE), final beam kinetic energy will be low compared to a driver, giving perveance significantly larger than the driver, and making final focus to a small spot comparatively much more difficult. Splitting of beams ahead of the final focus system would allow economical transport of large beams through the IRE accelerator, while maintaining focusability. Since splitting decouples the number of beams transported in the accelerator from what is required at final focus, it could also lower the cost of a driver. In this paper we consider the effects on beam quality of transverse beam splitting. The system of most interest consists of one or more consecutive magnetic septa. PIC simulations of this case are discussed, along with engineering considerations.

Transverse beam combining is a cost-saving option employed in many designs for induction linac heavy ion fusion drivers. The resultant transverse emittance increase, due predominantly to anharmonic space charge forces, must be kept minimal so that the beam remains focusable at the target. A prototype combining experiment has been built using the MBE-4 experimental apparatus. Four new sources produce up to 6.7 mA Cs+ beams at 200 keV. The ion sources are angled toward each other so that the beams converge. Focusing upstream of the merge consists of four quadrupoles and a final combined-function element (quadrupole and dipole). All lattice elements are electrostatic. Owing to the small distance between beams at the last element (about 3–4 mm), the electrodes here are a cage of small rods, each at different voltage. The beams emerge into the 30-period transport lattice of MBE-4 where emittance growth due to merging, as well as the subsequent evolution of the distribution function, can be diagnosed. The combiner design, simulation predictions and preliminary results from the experiment are presented.

The Fermilab main injector (MI) is being considered for an upgrade as part of the high intensity neutrino source (HINS) effort. This upgrade will involve a significant increasing of the bunch intensity relative to its present value. Such an increase will place the MI in a regime in which electron-cloud effects are expected to become important. We have used the electrostatic particle-in-cell code WARP, recently augmented with new modeling capabilities and simulation techniques, to study the dynamics of beam-electron cloud interaction. This work in progress involves a systematic assessment of beam instabilities due to the presence of electron clouds.

In ILSE (Induction Linac Systems Experiment), sixteen intense parallel ion beams are to be transversely combined into four by dispersionless double bends. Emittance growth due to electrostatic energy redistribution and to the geometry is evaluated. Most bending elements are electric, and alternate with AG electrostatic quadrupoles similar to those upstream. The final elements are magnetic, combining focusing and 'unbending'. Electrode shapes and pulsed-current arrays (with very small clearances), as well as mechanical and electric features of the combiner, are described. >

The time structure of the Bevalac beam spill has been measured for spills with and without feedback. A filter across the magnet has reduced spill ripple near 170 Hz. Low-frequency spill structure has been improved by removing the scintillator used for feedback from the vacuum chamber, detecting instead radiation generated by collisions of beam particles with a wire chamber. Pulse-to-pulse variation of the circulating beam intensity has been reduced, and continuous tunability of the intensity introduced, by using a feedback system. This system reduces the RF bucket height to spill beam until the proper intensity is reached. >

Transverse beam combining is a cost-saving option employed in many designs for induction linac heavy ion fusion drivers. But resultant transverse emittance increase, due predominantly to anharmonic space charge forces, must be kept minimal so as not to sacrifice focusability at the target. A prototype combining experiment has been built, using the MBE-4 experiment. Four sources produce four 4 mA Cs/sup +/ beams at 200 keV. The ion sources are angled toward each other, so that the beams converge. Focusing upstream of the merge consists of 4 quadrupoles and a final combined-function element (quadrupole and dipole). All lattice elements are electrostatic. Due to the small distance between beams at the last element (/spl sim/2 mm), the electrodes here are a cage of small wires, each at different voltage. The beams emerge into the 30 period transport lattice of MBE-4 where emittance growth due to merging, as well as the subsequent evolution of the distribution function, can be diagnosed. The combiner design, simulation predictions, and preliminary results from the experiment are presented.

Until July of 1992, the maximum length of the Bevalac flattop was 2 seconds, limiting the beam spill to 1.5 seconds. The normal running condition was a 1.5 second flattop, with a 1.0 second beam spill. If we define the duty factor as the spill length (in time) divided by the synchrotron pulse length, that is, the percentage of time the Bevalac can deliver beam to experiments, the duty factor for the 1.5 second flattop ranged from 17% (at full field, i.e., 12575 G) to 25% (low field). The purpose of the Long Flattop Project was to increase the length of the flattop, thus increasing the duty factor of the machine, and its efficiency for experiments. This has been done, with resultant increase in the duty factor and experimental data rate. It is now possible to run with duty factor of about 80% for low fields, falling to about 60% at 10 kG, and 34% at full field. This report documents what was done, and its limitations. It should be noted that increasing the length of the beam spill is only possible if the source can produce more beam per pulse than is usable by the experimenter. Experimenters running atmore » full intensity with a short flattop (1.5 seconds) cannot benefit from a longer flattop. This paper describe the changes that have been made to Bevalac systems to make the long flattop possible, the limits put on the length of the flattop by existing hardware, and the procedure for tuning for the long flattop.« less

Possibilities are explored for diagnosing the hot-electron distribution function of the thermal barriers of tandem mirrors, using perpendicular electron cyclotron emission. Emission from a relativistic bi-Maxwellian with a loss cone is calculated in the single-particle limit. Formulae are derived for finding T⊥ by measuring frequencies of the harmonio intensity maxima at optically thin frequencies, or the intensity at optically thick frequencies. A positive δf/δp⊥ in the distribution function is shown to lead to decreased absorption and instability for low T⊥. Finally, the perpendicular source function is calculated in the single-particle limit for this distribution function.