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Studies in ion source development for application in heavy ion fusion (open access)

Studies in ion source development for application in heavy ion fusion

The overall purpose of these experiments is to contribute to the development of ion injector technology in order to produce a driver for use in a heavy-ion-fusion (HIF) power generating facility. The overall beam requirements for HIF are quite demanding; a short list of the constraints is the following: (1) Low cost (a large portion of overall cost will come from the beam system); (2) Bright, low emittance beam; (3) Total beam energy 5MJ; (4) Spot size 3mm (radius); (5) Pulse Duration 10ns; (6) Current on target 40kA; (7) Repetition Rate 5Hz; (8) Standoff from target 5m; and (9) Transverse Temp < 1 keV. The reasons for employing ion beams in inertial fusion systems become obvious when the repetition rate required is considered. While laser drivers are useful in producing a proof-of-concept, they will be incapable of application in power generation. Consequently attempts in the U.S. to achieve a power generating system make use of linear ion accelerators. It is apparent that the accelerator system requires the highest quality input as obtainable. Therefore injector design is an essential portion of the entire inertial fusion system. At Lawrence Berkeley and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories experiments are being conducted using two injector …
Date: May 30, 2004
Creator: Kapica, Jonathan G.
System: The UNT Digital Library