LBNL, Berkeley, California, USA
The Neutralized Drift Compression Experiment (NDCX-II) is an induction accelerator project currently in construction at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory for warm dense matter (WDM) experiments investigating the interaction of ion beams with matter at high temperature and pressure. The machine consists of a lithium injector, induction accelerator cells, diagnostic cells, a neutralized drift compression line, a final focus solenoid, and a target chamber. The machine relies on a sequence of acceleration waveforms to longitudinally compress the initial ion pulse from 600 ns to less than 1 ns in ~ 12 meters. Radial confinement of the beam is achieved with 2.5 T solenoids. In the initial hardware configuration, 30-50 nC of Li+ will be accelerated to 1.2 MeV and allowed to drift-compress to a peak current of ~ 20 A. Construction of the accelerator will be completed in the summer of 2011 and will provide a worldwide unique opportunity for ion-driven warm dense matter experiments as well as research related to novel beam manipulations for heavy ion fusion drivers. The basic design of the machine and the current status of the construction project will be presented.
LBNL, Berkeley, California, USA
The NDCX-II accelerator has been designed for target heating experiments in the warm dense matter regime. It will use a large diameter (≈ 10.9 cm) Li+ doped alumino-silicate source with a pulse duration of 0.5 μs, and beam current of ≈ 93 mA. Characterization of a prototype lithium alumino-silicate sources is presented. Using 6.35 mm diameter prototype emitters (coated and sintered on a ≈ 75% porous tungsten substrate), at a temperature of ≈1275° C, a space-charge limited Li+ beam current density of ≈ 1 mA/cm2 was measured. At higher extraction voltage, the source is emission limited at around ≈ 1.5 mA/cm2, weakly dependent on the applied voltage. The lifetime of the ion source is ≈ 50 hours while pulsing the extraction voltage at 2 to 3 times per minute. Measurements under these conditions show that the lifetime of the ion source does not depend only on beam current extraction, and lithium loss may be dominated by neutral loss or by evaporation. The thickness of the coating does not affect the emission density. It is inferred that pulsed heating, synchronized with the beam pulse rate may increase the life time of a source.
LBNL, Berkeley, California, USA
LLNL, Livermore, California, USA
A 130 keV injector is developed for the NDCX-II facility. It consists of a 10.9 cm diameter lithium doped alumina-silicate ion source heated to ~1300 °C and 3 electrodes. Other components include a segmented Rogowski coil for current and beam position monitoring, a gate valve, pumping ports, a focusing solenoid, a steering coil and space for inspection and maintenance access. Significant design challenges including managing the 3-4 kW of power dissipation from the source heater, temperature uniformity across the emitter surface, quick access for frequent ion source replacement, mechanical alignment with tight tolerance, and structural stabilization of the cantilevered 27” OD graded HV ceramic column. The injector fabrication is scheduled to complete by May 2011, and assembly and installation is scheduled to complete by the beginning of July.
LBNL, Berkeley, California, USA
A unique application of the pulsed-wire measurement method has been implemented for alignment of 2.5T pulsed solenoid magnets. The magnetic axis measurement has been shown to have a resolution of better than 25 μm. The accuracy of the technique allows for the identification of inherent field errors due to, for example, the winding layer transitions and the current leads. The alignment system is developed for the induction accelerator NDCX-II under construction at LBNL, an upgraded Neutralized Drift Compression eXperiment for research on warm dense matter and heavy ion fusion. Precise alignment is essential for NDCX-II, since the ion beam has a large energy spread associated with the rapid pulse compression such that misalignments lead to corkscrew deformation of the beam and reduced intensity at focus. The ability to align the magnetic axis of the pulsed solenoids to within 100 μm of the induction cell axis has been demonstrated.
LLNL, Livermore, California, USA
LBNL, Berkeley, California, USA
PPPL, Princeton, New Jersey, USA
UMD, College Park, Maryland, USA
Intense heavy-ion beams have long been considered a promising driver option for inertial-fusion energy production. This paper briefly compares inertial confinement fusion (ICF) to the more-familiar magnetic- confinement approach and presents some advantages of using beams of heavy ions to drive ICF instead of lasers. Key design choices in heavy-ion fusion (HIF) facilities are discussed, particularly the type of accelerator. We then review experiments carried out at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) over the past thirty years to understand various aspects of HIF driver physics. A brief review follows of present HIF research in the US and abroad, focusing on a new facility, NDCX-II, being built at LBNL to study the physics of warm dense matter heated by ions, as well as aspects of HIF target physics. Future research directions are briefly summarized.