Novel linac structures for low-beta ions and for muons
- Los Alamos National Laboratory
Development of two innovative linacs is discussed. (1) High-efficiency normal-conducting accelerating structures for ions with beam velocities in the range of a few percent of the speed of light. Two existing accelerator technologies - the H-mode resonator cavities and transverse beam focusing by permanent-magnet quadrupoles (PMQ) - are merged to create efficient structures for light-ion beams of considerable currents. The inter-digital H-mode accelerator with PMQ focusing (IH-PMQ) has the shunt impedance 10-20 times higher than the standard drift-tube linac. Results of the combined 3-D modeling for an IH-PMQ accelerator tank - electromagnetic computations, beam-dynamics simulations, and thermal-stress analysis - are presented. H-PMQ structures following a short RFQ accelerator can be used in the front end of ion linacs or in stand-alone applications like a compact mobile deuteron-beam accelerator up to a few MeV. (2) A large-acceptance high-gradient linac for accelerating low-energy muons in a strong solenoidal magnetic field. When a proton beam hits a target, many low-energy pions are produced almost isotropically, in addition to a small number of high-energy pions in the forward direction. We propose to collect and accelerate copious muons created as the low-energy pions decay. The acceleration should bring muons to a kinetic energy of {approx}200 MeV in about 10 m, where both an ionization cooling of the muon beam and its further acceleration in a superconducting linac become feasible. One potential solution is a normal-conducting linac consisting of independently fed O-mode RF cavities with wide apertures closed by thin metal windows or grids. The guiding magnetic field is provided by external superconducting solenoids. The cavity choice, overall linac design considerations, and simulation results of muon acceleration are presented. Potential applications range from basic research to homeland defense to industry and medicine.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC52-06NA25396
- OSTI ID:
- 1025898
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-10-05271; LA-UR-10-5271; TRN: US1105020
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 21st Int. Conf. on Applic. of Accelerators in Res. & Industry (CAARI 2010) ; August 9, 2010 ; Ft Worth, TX
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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