Search Results (7 total)

This paper presents designs for four types of very-low-velocity superconducting (SC) accelerating cavity capable of providing several MV of accelerating potential per cavity, and suitable for particle velocities in the range 0.006<v/c<0.06. Superconducting TEM-class cavities have been widely applied to cw acceleration of ion beams. SC linacs can be formed as an array of independently phased cavities, enabling a variable velocity profile to maximize the output energy for each of a number of different ion species. Several laboratories in the U.S. and Europe are planning exotic beam facilities based on SC linacs. The cavity designs presented here are intended for the front end of such linacs, particularly for the postacceleration of rare isotopes of low charge state. Several types of SC cavities have been developed recently to cover particle velocities above 0.06c. Superconducting four-gap quarter-wave resonators for velocities 0.008<β=v/c<0.05 were developed about two decades ago and have been successfully operated at the ATLAS SC linac at Argonne National Laboratory. Since that time, progress in simulation tools, cavity fabrication, and processing have increased SC cavity gradients by a factor of 3–4. This paper applies these tools to optimize the design of a four-gap quarter-wave resonator for exotic beam facilities and other low-velocity applications.

The applicability of superconducting TEM-class spoke cavities to high-energy ion linacs is discussed, and detailed designs for two TEM-class, triple-spoke-loaded superconducting niobium resonant cavities are presented. The 345 MHz cavities have a velocity range of 0.4<β<0.75 and a beam aperture of 4 cm. Spoke-loaded cavities offer several advantages compared with the higher-frequency elliptical-cell cavities that are currently being developed for this range of particle velocities. The proposed triple-spoke cavities can provide broader velocity acceptance, more accelerating voltage per cavity, reduced heat-load operation at 4.2 K, and increased longitudinal acceptance through the high-energy section. Application to the proposed U.S. rare-isotope accelerator driver linac is discussed in detail.

Superconducting cavities presently used for acceleration of ions in velocity range ∼0.01c to 0.3c (where c is the speed of light) are based on quarter-wave resonators. Currently there are several design proposals in nuclear physics laboratories for application of this type of cavity for acceleration of light and heavy ions. The operating frequencies of the cavities range from ∼50 to 360 MHz to satisfy various specifications. Electrodynamics studies of the field distributions in the beam-cavity interaction area indicate appreciable dipole components of both electric and magnetic fields, especially for higher-frequency cavities. The dipole fields induce beam steering, which is a strong function of rf phase and which couples the longitudinal and transverse motion. This can result in growth in the transverse emittance of the beam. In this paper, we propose two possible methods for the correction of such dynamic beam-steering effects in quarter-wave resonators. We analyze and discuss the correction methods for the particular examples of two quarter-wave resonators operating at 57.5 and 115 MHz designed for the driver linac of the Rare Isotope Accelerator facility.

The possibility of simultaneously accelerating particles with a range of charge-to-mass ratios ( ∼20%) to the same energy is proposed and demonstrated for a superconducting linac. Uranium ions stripped in a foil with eight charge states have been accelerated through a portion of the ATLAS linac from 286 to 690 MeV, with 94% of the injected uranium in the accelerated beam. Emittance of the resultant beam has been measured and the energy spread was 1.3% compared to 0.4% for a single charge state. This development has immediate application to the high-intensity acceleration of heavy ions that are limited by ion-source intensities, such as the proposed Rare Isotope Accelerator Facility.

An advanced facility for the production of nuclei far from stability could be based on a high-power driver accelerator providing ion beams over the full mass range from protons to uranium. A beam power of several hundred kilowatts is highly desirable for this application. At present, however, the beam power available for the heavier ions would be limited by ion source capabilities. A simple and cost-effective method to enhance the available beam current would be to accelerate multiple charge states through a superconducting ion linac. This paper presents results of numerical simulation of multiple charge state beams through a 1.3 GeV ion linac, the design of which is based on current state-of-the-art superconducting elements. The dynamics of multiple charge state beams are detailed, including the effects of possible errors in rf field parameters and misalignments of transverse focusing elements. The results indicate that operation with multiple charge state beams is not only feasible but straightforward and can increase the beam current by a factor of 3 or more.

An experiment was performed to test the hypothesis of cryogenic trapping of fractionally charged particles, suggested as a possible explanation for the results of LaRue, Fairbank, Hebard, and Phillips at Stanford. A Nb-filament source was built, which could be cooled to 4.2°K and rapidly heated to several hundred °K. The source was operated in the terminal of a 700-kV Cockcroft-Walton accelerator and energy spectra of positively charged particles emerging from the filament were measured under a variety of operating conditions. No events above a background of 10^-2 counts/sec were found in the energy regions where one might have expected several hundred particles of charge +1 / 3e or +2 / 3e as the source was heated. A mass range from 10 MeV/c² to 100 GeV/c² was covered in the experiment. Although negative results are rarely unambiguous, our findings exclude one class of hypotheses which might have explained the apparent fractional charges of the Stanford experiments.

The complex ac impedance of a type-II superconductor in the intermediate state has been measured between 3 and 40 MHz. The results are compared with a model of vortices acted on by a pinning force and the Lorentz force. Also, the inertial inductance of the superelectrons has been measured at 10 MHz and is shown to be sufficiently large, for thin films, to provide a convenient measure of the penetration depth.