ALBERT

Notes: We present the first experimental results of a uniformly insulated extraction applied-B ion diode. The diode typically attained beam generating efficiencies of 70% at the time of peak beam power. This is a significant improvement over previous extraction applied-B ion diodes, demonstrating the importance of uniform insulation as suggested by theory [J. Appl. Phys. 59, 2685 (1986)]. Furthermore, we found that the beam current is nearly independent of the ion-emitting area down to a minimum area. At the minimum area, the beam current density was enhanced by 150 times the monopolar Child–Langmuir value. This data supports a recently proposed theory [Phys. Rev. Lett. 59, 2295 (1987)] that predicts large enhancements due to the electron diamagnetic effect on the virtual cathode.

Notes: Magnetically insulated ion diodes are being developed to drive inertial confinement fusion. Ion beam microdivergence must be reduced to achieve the very high beam intensities required to achieve this goal. Three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations [Phys. Rev. Lett. 67, 3094 (1991)] indicate that instability-induced fluctuations can produce significant ion divergence during acceleration. These simulations exhibit a fast growing mode early in time, which has been identified as the diocotron instability. The divergence generated by this mode is modest, due to the relatively high-frequency ((approximately-greater-than)1 GHz). Later, a low-frequency low-phase-velocity instability develops with a frequency that is approximately the reciprocal of the ion transit time. This instability couples effectively to the ions, and can generate unacceptably large ion divergences ((approximately-greater-than)30 mrad). Linear stability theory reveals that this mode has structure parallel to the applied magnetic field and is related to the modified two-stream instability. Measurements of ion density fluctuations and energy-momentum correlations have confirmed that instabilities develop in ion diodes and contribute to the ion divergence. In addition, spectroscopic measurements indicate that lithium ions have a significant transverse temperature very close to the emission surface. Passive thin-film lithium fluoride (LiF) anodes have larger transverse beam temperatures than laser-irradiated active sources. Calculations of the ion beam source divergence for the LiF film due to surface roughness and the possible loss of adhesion and fragmentation of this film are presented. © 1996 American Institute of Physics.

Notes: An analysis of the stability of magnetically insulated ion diodes is presented that includes electromagnetic perturbations both parallel and perpendicular to the applied magnetic field, and is fully relativistic. The theory represents a generalization of previous work, which is either electrostatic or excludes wave motion parallel to the applied magnetic field. The analysis reveals a fast growing, low-phase velocity mode that is identified as a modified two-stream instability. This mode is similar to the low frequency mode observed in three-dimensional (3-D) particle simulations, and may be a major cause of ion divergence. It is shown that allowing diode electrons to respond to perturbations in the direction of the applied magnetic field introduces a new set of electron space-charge waves that cause ion modes to become unstable at low frequency and phase velocity. Furthermore, it is shown that these electron space-charge waves are significantly influenced by electromagnetic effects, which therefore cannot be ignored. © 1995 American Institute of Physics.

Notes: The three-dimensional particle-in-cell code quicksilver [Seidel et al., Computational Physics, edited by A. Tenner (World Scientific, Singapore, 1991), p. 475] has been used to study applied-B ion diodes. The impedance behavior of the diode in these simulations is in good agreement with both analytic theory and experiments at peak power. The simulations also demonstrate the existence of electromagnetic instabilities which induce divergence in the ion beam. Early in time, there is an instability at high frequency relative to the ion transit time τi, and the resulting beam divergence is low. However, later in time, the system makes a transition to an instability with a frequency close to 1/τi, and the ion beam divergence rises to an unacceptably high value. The transition is associated with the build-up of electron space charge in the diode, and the resulting increase in the beam current density enhancement (J/JCL). Using different schemes to inhibit the electron evolution, the transition has both been postponed and permanently eliminated, resulting in Li+1 ion beams with a sustained divergence of ∼10 mrad at an energy of ∼10 MeV.

Notes: A quasianalytic model of the dynamic hohlraum is presented. Results of the model are compared to both experiments and full numerical simulations with good agreement. The computational simplicity of the model allows one to find the behavior of the hohlraum radiation temperature as a function of the various parameters of the system and thus find optimum parameters as a function of the driving current. The model is used to investigate the benefits of ablative standoff and quasispherical Z pinches. © 2001 American Institute of Physics.

Notes: An analytic theory for magnetically insulated multistage acceleration of high intensity ion beams has been presented [J. Appl. Phys. 67, 6705 (1990)]. This theory predicts an operating behavior that is strongly dependent on the electron density profile. A numerical investigation, using both two-dimensional (2-D) and three-dimensional (3-D) particle-in-cell codes, of multistage diode operating behavior is presented in this paper. The 2-D results are consistent with the analytic results based on a very thin electron sheath. In contrast, the 3-D simulations are consistent with the analytic theory based on a thick electron sheath. The different results are due to the growth of electromagnetic instabilities in the 3-D simulations, which generate fluctuations that broaden the electron sheath. The 2-D simulations did not properly model these instabilities because they propagate in the direction that was ignored. In addition to these results, the 3-D code was used to study the generation of ion divergence due to the instability induced fluctuations. These simulations show a positive correlation between the ion current density (normalized for space-charge effects) and the growth of transverse ion velocities during acceleration. It is found that, at low beam current densities, ion divergence can be reduced significantly by postacceleration.

Notes: We present the design of the high-voltage (30 MV) Applied-B ion diode that is now being tested on the PBFA-II accelerator at Sandia National Laboratories. This diode design is the first application of a new set of numerical design tools that have been developed over the past several years. Furthermore, this design represents significant departures from previous designs due to much higher voltage and the use of a nonprotonic ion, Li+. The higher voltage increases the magnetic field strength required to insulate the diode from 1 to 2 T of previous diodes to 3–7 T. This represents a very large increase in the magnetic field energy and the magnetic forces exerted on the field-coil structures. Our new design incorporates changes in the field-coil locations to significantly reduce the field energy and the forces on the field-coil structures. The use of nonprotonic ions introduces a new complication in that these ions will be stripped when they penetrate material, i.e., the gas cell membrane. The importance of current neutralization, charge-exchange reactions, and the conservation of canonical angular momentum are discussed in the context of designing light ion diodes suitable as drivers for inertial confinement fusion. We have simulated the performance of this diode design using the electromagnetic particle-in-cell code, magic. We find that the most sensitive point in the power flow is the transition from the self-magnetically insulated transmission line to the applied field region of the diode.

Notes: A series of experiments was performed with an Applied-B ion diode on the Particle Beam Fusion Accelerator-I, with peak voltage, current, and power of approximately 1.8 MV, 6 MA, and 6 TW, respectively. The purpose of these experiments was to explore issues of scaling of Applied-B diode operation from the sub-TW level on single module accelerators to the multi-TW level on a low impedance, self-magnetically insulated, multimodule accelerator. This is an essential step in the development of the 100-TW level light ion beam driver required for inertial confinement fusion. The accelerator and the diode are viewed as a whole because the power pulse delivered by the 36 imperfectly synchronized magnetically insulated transmission lines to the single diode affects module addition, diode operation, and ion beam focusability. We studied electrical coupling between the accelerator and the diode, power flow symmetry, the ionic composition of the beam, and the focusability of the proton component of the beam. Scaling of the diode impedance behavior and beam quality with electrical drive power is obtained from comparison with lower-power experiments.The diode impedance lifetime was about 10 ns, several times shorter than for lower-power experiments. Azimuthal and top-to-bottom variations of the diode and ion currents were found to be approximately ±10%, compared with an estimated requirement of 5%–7% uniformity to avoid focal blurring by self-magnetic field effects. The ion production efficiency was 80%–90%. However, only 50%±10% of the ion current was carried by protons; the balance was carried by multiply charged carbon and oxygen ions. Activation measurements showed a proton beam energy of approximately 50 kJ. A gas cell filled with 5 Torr of argon was used for beam transport. The macroscopic divergence was 15±10 mrad and the microscopic divergence was 20±15 mrad, values that are similar to those from lower-power experiments. A model of beam focusing is formulated that predicts the proton charge focused onto 0.47-cm radius lithium targets, taking into account beam purity, magnetic bending, small-angle multiple scattering, and intrinsic divergence. The model results and activation measurements of the number of protons focused onto targets agree, and indicate that the spatially averaged (over about 3 cm2) peak focal power was about 0.5 TW/cm.2 The most important limitations on power concentration were found to be the low proton content of the beam, the short impedance lifetime of the diode, and the asymmetric current feed of the accelerator. The short impedance lifetime limited the power coupled to the diode, and caused the voltage at peak ion power to be low, which exacerbates the small-angle scattering problem. The asymmetric feed caused focal blurring through nonuniform self-magnetic bending. At least partly because of the experience gained with low impedance beams during these experiments, the next generation accelerator, the 100-TW Particle Beam Fusion Accelerator-II, has been configured to produce a 25–30-MV Li+ beam rather than a 5-MV proton beam. off

Notes: An improved understanding of the factors that control the axial focus of applied-B ion diodes was obtained from time-resolved diagnostics of ion-beam trajectories. This resulted in a new selection of anode shape that produced a proton focus of 1.3-mm diameter from a 4.5-cm-radius diode, which is a factor of 2 improvement over previous results. We have achieved a peak proton power density of 1.5±0.2 TW/cm2 on the 1-TW Proto I accelerator. The radial convergence of this proton beam, defined as the ratio of the anode diameter to focused beam FWHM, is 70. Time-resolved information about virtual cathode evolution, the self- and applied-magnetic-field bending, and the horizontal focus of the beam was also obtained. In addition, the diffusion of the magnetic field into the anode plasma is estimated by measuring the horizontal focal position as a function of time. Finally, we discuss the effects of gas cell scattering on the beam focus.

Notes: We present a device to control the rapidly decreasing impedance that has been observed with Applied-B ion diodes. This device, which we call an impedance limiter, is a protrusion at the midplane of the anode. Its purpose is to reduce the electron space charge near the anode emission surface. Electromagnetic particle-in-cell simulations show that the impedance characteristics of an Applied-B diode can be favorably modified by using this device. Preliminary experimental results on the particle beam fusion accelerator I for an Applied-B ion diode using an impedance limiter show promise.