[en] This postdeadline paper was presented at the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO), May 23-28, 1999, Baltimore, Maryland.(c) 1999 Optical Society of America

[en] We demonstrate a new method for controlling diffractive, high-power beam combination, sensing phase errors by analyzing the intensity pattern of uncombined side beams at the output. A square array of eight beams is combined with <0.3% stability and 84.6% efficiency. As the channel count is increased, so does the usable information, enabling scaling to large channel counts without significant slowing of control loop response time, an advantage over single-input algorithms.

[en] Here, cable and magnet applications require bending REBa₂Cu₃O_7-δ (REBCO, RE = rare earth) tapes around a former to carry high current or generate specific magnetic fields. With a high aspect ratio, REBCO tapes favor the bending along their broad surfaces (easy way) than their thin edges (hard way). The easy-way bending forms can be effectively determined by the constant-perimeter method that was developed in the 1970s to fabricate accelerator magnets with flat thin conductors. The method, however, does not consider the strain distribution in the REBCO layer that can result from bending. Therefore, the REBCO layer can be overstrained and damaged even if it is bent in an easy way as determined by the constant-perimeter method. To address this issue, we developed a numerical approach to determine the strain in the REBCO layer using the local curvatures of the tape neutral plane. Two orthogonal strain components are determined: the axial component along the tape length and the transverse component along the tape width. These two components can be used to determine the conductor critical current after bending. The approach is demonstrated with four examples relevant for applications: a helical form for cables, forms for canted cos θ dipole and quadrupole magnets, and a form for the coil end design. The approach allows us to optimize the design of REBCO cables and magnets based on the constant-perimeter geometry and to reduce the strain-induced critical current degradation.

[en] The critical current density of Bi-2212 round wires has seen significant improvement over the past two years. We present the magnetic design and stress analysis of two Bi-2212 dipoles based on Canted-Cosine-Theta (CCT) technology using the state-of-the-art wires. The first design, based on a 19-strand Rutherford cable of θ0.8mm strands, is a two-layer dipole with a bore diameter of 40 mm and an outer diameter of 98.4 mm; it generates 5.4 T when operating in stand-alone configuration and 18.9 T in 15 T background field. The second design, based on a 13-strand Rutherford cable of θ0.8mm strands, is also a two-layer dipole with a bore diameter of 40 mm and an outer diameter of 81 mm; it generates 4.0 T when operating in stand-alone configuration and 17.8 T in 15 T background field. Normal stresses on the conductor in these magnets do not exceed 35 MPa when working under background field.Moreover, we propose a novel approach for increasing the efficiency of CCT magnets using keystoned Rutherford cable while removing the midplane ribs. with this method, it is possible to increase the efficiency of small radius CCT coils by 20%. We conclude that Bi-2212 can be used to increase the limit of accelerator magnet dipole fields beyond 15 T while managing stresses in the coils to acceptable levels.

[en] Recently, we presented a new approach for a compact radio-frequency (RF) accelerator structure and demonstrated the functionality of the individual components: acceleration units and focusing elements. In this paper, we combine these units to form a working accelerator structure: a matching section between the ion source extraction grids and the RF-acceleration unit and electrostatic focusing quadrupoles between successive acceleration units. The matching section consists of six electrostatic quadrupoles (ESQs) fabricated using 3D-printing techniques. The matching section enables us to capture more beam current and to match the beam envelope to conditions for stable transport in an acceleration lattice. We present data from an integrated accelerator consisting of the source, matching section, and an ESQ doublet sandwiched between two RF-acceleration units.

[en] © 2019 U.S. Government. Magnetic Vortex Acceleration (MVA) from near critical density targets is one of the promising schemes of laser-driven ion acceleration. 3D particle-in-cell simulations are used to explore a more extensive laser-target parameter space than previously reported in the literature as well as to study the laser pulse coupling to the target, the structure of the fields, and the properties of the accelerated ion beam in the MVA scheme. The efficiency of acceleration depends on the coupling of the laser energy to the self-generated channel in the target. The accelerated proton beams demonstrate a high level of collimation with achromatic angular divergence, and carry a significant amount of charge. For petawatt-class lasers, this acceleration regime provides a favorable scaling of the maximum ion energy with the laser power for the optimized interaction parameters. The megatesla-level magnetic fields generated by the laser-driven coaxial plasma structure in the target are a prerequisite for accelerating protons to the energy of several hundred mega-electron-volts.

[en] The scaling of reaction yields in light ion fusion to low reaction energies is important for our understanding of stellar fuel chains and the development of future energy technologies. Experiments become progressively more challenging at lower reaction energies due to the exponential drop of fusion cross sections below the Coulomb barrier. We report on experiments where deuterium-deuterium (D-D) fusion reactions are studied in a pulsed plasma in the glow discharge regime using a benchtop apparatus. We model plasma conditions using particle-in-cell codes. Advantages of this approach are relatively high peak ion currents and current densities (0.1 to several A/cm²) that can be applied to metal wire cathodes for several days. We detect neutrons from D-D reactions with scintillator-based detectors. For palladium targets, we find neutron yields as a function of cathode voltage that are over 100 times higher than yields expected for bare nuclei fusion at ion energies below 2 keV (center of mass frame). A possible explanation is a correction to the ion energy due to an electron screening potential of 1000 ± 250 eV, which increases the probability for tunneling through the repulsive Coulomb barrier. Finally, our compact, robust setup enables parametric studies of this effect at relatively low reaction energies.

[en] Here, we report a novel experimental technique to investigate ultrafast dynamics in photoexcited molecules by probing the third-order nonlinear optical susceptibility. A non-colinear 3-pulse scheme is developed to probe the ultrafast dynamics of excited electronic states using the optical Kerr effect by time-resolved polarization spectroscopy. Optical heterodyne and optical homodyne detection are demonstrated to measure the third-order nonlinear optical response for the S₁ excited state of liquid nitrobenzene, which is populated by 2-photon absorption of a 780 nm 35 fs excitation pulse.

[en] Over the next three years the research program of the Heavy Ion Fusion Virtual National Laboratory (HIF-VNL), a collaboration among LBNL, LLNL, and PPPL, is focused on separate scientific experiments in the injection, transport and focusing of intense heavy ion beams at currents from 100 mA to 1 A. As a next major step in the HIF-VNL program, we aim for a complete 'source-to-target' experiment, the Integrated Beam Experiment (IBX). By combining the experience gained in the current separate beam experiments IBX would allow the integrated scientific study of the evolution of a single heavy ion beam at high current (∼1 A) through all sections of a possible heavy ion fusion accelerator: the injection, acceleration, compression, and beam focusing.This paper describes the main parameters and technology choices of the planned IBX experiment. IBX will accelerate singly charged potassium or argon ion beams up to 10 MeV final energy and a longitudinal beam compression ratio of 10, resulting in a beam current at target of more than 10 Amperes. Different accelerator cell design options are described in detail: Induction cores incorporating either room temperature pulsed focusing-magnets or superconducting magnets

[en] Detecting local heat-dissipating zones in high-temperature superconductor (HTS) magnets is a challenging task due to slow propagation of such zones in HTS conductors. For long conductor lengths, voltage-based methods may not provide a sufficient sensitivity or redundancy, and therefore nonvoltage-based detection alternatives are being sought. One of those is the recently proposed method of Eigen Frequency Thermometry (EFT), which is an active acoustic technique for a fast and nonintrusive detection of 'hot spots,' utilizing temperature dependence of the conductor elastic moduli. In this work, we demonstrate the efficiency of EFT for detecting localized heating in a 1.2-m-long sample of REBCO tape immersed in liquid nitrogen, and benchmark sensitivity of the acoustic detection with respect to voltage, hot spot temperature, and power dissipation in the conductor. Modifying the original technique for differential mode of operation enables a much improved sensitivity, and adds a hot spot localization capability. Furthermore, we adapt this technique to subscale coils wound with REBCO CORC conductor built in the framework of U.S. Magnet Development Program. A successful thermal-based detection of dissipation onset at the critical current for a two-layer canted CORC dipole assembly is discussed.