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

Title: Differential acceleration in the final beam lines of a Heavy Ion Fusion driver

Journal Article · · Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research. Section A, Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
 [1]
  1. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Virtual National Laboratory for Heavy Ion Fusion Science (United States)

A long-standing challenge in the design of a Heavy Ion Fusion power plant is that the ion beams entering the target chamber, which number of order a hundred, all need to be routed from one or two multi-beam accelerators through a set of transport lines. The beams are divided into groups, which each have unique arrival times and may have unique kinetic energies. It is also necessary to arrange for each beam to enter the target chamber from a prescribed location on the periphery of that chamber. Furthermore, it has generally been assumed that additional constraints must be obeyed: that the path lengths of the beams in a group must be equal, and that any delay of \main-pulse" beams relative to \foot-pulse" beams must be provided by the insertion of large delay-arcs in the main beam transport lines. Here we introduce the notion of applying \di erential acceleration" to individual beams or sets of beam at strategic stages of the transport lines. That is, by accelerating some beams \sooner" and others \later," it is possible to simplify the beam line con guration in a number of cases. For example, the time delay between the foot and main pulses can be generated without resorting to large arcs in the main-pulse beam lines. It is also possible to use di erential acceleration to e ect the simultaneous arrival on target of a set of beams ( e.g., for the foot-pulse) without requiring that their path lengths be precisely equal. We illustrate the technique for two model con gurations, one corresponding to a typical indirect-drive scenario requiring distinct foot and main energies, and the other to an ion-driven fast-ignition scenario wherein the foot and main beams share a common energy.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-07NA27344
OSTI ID:
1226209
Report Number(s):
LLNL-JRNL-589512
Journal Information:
Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research. Section A, Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 733, Issue C; ISSN 0168-9002
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (10)

The induction approach to heavy-ion inertial fusion: Accelerator and target considerations journal November 1993
An integrated systems model for heavy ion drivers
  • Meier, W. R.; Bangerter, R. O.; Faltens, A.
  • Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 415, Issue 1-2 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0168-9002(98)00392-1
journal September 1998
HYLIFE-II: A Molten-Salt Inertial Fusion Energy Power Plant Design — Final Report journal January 1994
Design of a distributed radiator target for inertial fusion driven from two sides with heavy ion beams journal April 1998
Progress in heavy ion target capsule and hohlraum design journal July 2002
Direct drive heavy-ion-beam inertial fusion at high coupling efficiency journal July 2008
Progress towards a high-gain and robust target design for heavy ion fusion journal July 2012
An Updated Point Design for Heavy Ion Fusion journal September 2003
A final focus model for heavy-ion fusion driver system codes
  • Barnard, J. J.; Bangerter, R. O.; Henestroza, E.
  • Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 544, Issue 1-2 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2005.01.212
journal May 2005
Commentary on A Conceptual Design of Transport Lines for a Heavy-Ion Inertial-Fusion Power Plant report April 2011