skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: THE GENESIS SOLAR WIND CONCENTRATOR TARGET: MASS FRACTIONATION CHARACTERISED BY NE ISOTOPES

Conference ·
OSTI ID:1000489

The concentrator on Genesis provides samples of increased fluences of solar wind ions for precise determination of the oxygen isotopic composition of the solar wind. The concentration process caused mass fractionation as function of the radial target position. They measured the fractionation using Ne released by UV laser ablation along two arms of the gold cross from the concentrator target to compare measured Ne with modeled Ne. The latter is based on simulations using actual conditions of the solar wind during Genesis operation. Measured Ne abundances and isotopic composition of both arms agree within uncertainties indicating a radial symmetric concentration process. Ne data reveal a maximum concentration factor of {approx} 30% at the target center and a target-wide fractionation of Ne isotopes of 3.8%/amu with monotonously decreasing {sup 20}Ne/{sup 22}Ne ratios towards the center. The experimentally determined data, in particular the isotopic fractionation, differ from the modeled data. They discuss potential reasons and propose future attempts to overcome these disagreements.

Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
DOE Contract Number:
AC52-06NA25396
OSTI ID:
1000489
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-07-0004; TRN: US201101%%358
Resource Relation:
Conference: SYMPOSIUM ON THE COMPOSITION OF MATTER ; 200609 ; GRANDEWALD
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English