Heavy-ion fusion driver research at Berkeley and Livermore

Conference · Thu Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 1996

OSTI ID:432788

Seidl, P; Bangerter, R; Celata, C M ^[1]

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1. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab., CA (United States); and others

The Department of Energy is restructuring the U.S. fusion program to place a greater emphasis on science. As a result, we will not build the ILSE or Elise heavy ion fusion (HIF) facilities described in 1992 and 1994 conferences. Instead we are performing smaller experiments to address important scientific questions. Accelerator technology for HIF is similar to that for other applications such as high energy physics and nuclear physics. The beam physics, however, differs from the physics encountered in most accelerators, where the pressure arising from the beam temperature (emittance) is the dominant factor determining beam size and focusing system design. In HIF, space charge is the dominant feature, leading us into a parameter regime where.the beam plasma frequency becomes comparable to the betatron frequency. Our experiments address the physics of non-neutral plasmas in this novel regime. Because the beam plasma frequency is low, Particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations provide a good description of most of our experiments. Accelerators for HIF consist of several subsystems: ion sources, injectors, matching sections, combiners, acceleration sections with electric and magnetic focusing, beam compression and bending sections, and a system to focus the beams onto the target. We are currently assembling or performing experiments to address the physics of all these subsystems. This paper will discuss experiments in injection, combining, and bending.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Berkeley National Lab., CA (United States); Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Research, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC03-76SF00098; W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 432788
• Report Number(s): LBNL--39278; HIFAN--856; CONF-961005--9; ON: DE97000915
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
BEAM INJECTION
HEAVY ION ACCELERATORS
HEAVY ION FUSION REACTIONS
INERTIAL FUSION DRIVERS
ION BEAM FUSION REACTORS
MARX GENERATORS
QUADRUPOLES
RESEARCH PROGRAMS