Modelling of proton acceleration in application to a ground level enhancement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Afanasiev, A.; Vainio, R.; Rouillard, A. P.; Battarbee, M.; Aran, A.; Zucca, P.

2018-06-01

Context. The source of high-energy protons (above 500 MeV) responsible for ground level enhancements (GLEs) remains an open question in solar physics. One of the candidates is a shock wave driven by a coronal mass ejection, which is thought to accelerate particles via diffusive-shock acceleration. Aims: We perform physics-based simulations of proton acceleration using information on the shock and ambient plasma parameters derived from the observation of a real GLE event. We analyse the simulation results to find out which of the parameters are significant in controlling the acceleration efficiency and to get a better understanding of the conditions under which the shock can produce relativistic protons. Methods: We use the results of the recently developed technique to determine the shock and ambient plasma parameters, applied to the 17 May 2012 GLE event, and carry out proton acceleration simulations with the Coronal Shock Acceleration (CSA) model. Results: We performed proton acceleration simulations for nine individual magnetic field lines characterised by various plasma conditions. Analysis of the simulation results shows that the acceleration efficiency of the shock, i.e. its ability to accelerate particles to high energies, tends to be higher for those shock portions that are characterised by higher values of the scattering-centre compression ratio rc and/or the fast-mode Mach number MFM. At the same time, the acceleration efficiency can be strengthened by enhanced plasma density in the corresponding flux tube. The simulations show that protons can be accelerated to GLE energies in the shock portions characterised by the highest values of rc. Analysis of the delays between the flare onset and the production times of protons of 1 GV rigidity for different field lines in our simulations, and a subsequent comparison of those with the observed values indicate a possibility that quasi-perpendicular portions of the shock play the main role in producing relativistic

Direct observation of the phase space footprint of a painting injection in the Rapid Cycling Synchrotron at the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saha, P. K.; Shobuda, Y.; Hotchi, H.; Hayashi, N.; Takayanagi, T.; Harada, H.; Irie, Y.

2009-04-01

The 3 GeV Rapid Cycling Synchrotron (RCS) at Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex is nearly at the operational stage with regard to the beam commissioning aspects. Recently, the design painting injection study has been commenced with the aim of high output beam power at the extraction. In order to observe the phase space footprint of the painting injection, a method was developed utilizing a beam position monitor (BPM) in the so-called single pass mode. The turn-by-turn phase space coordinates of the circulating beam directly measured using a pair of BPMs entirely positioned in drift space, and the calculated transfer matrices from the injection point to the pair of BPMs with several successive turns were used together in order to obtain the phase space footprint of the painting injection. There are two such pairs of BPMs placed in two different locations in the RCS, the results from which both agreed and were quite consistent with what was expected.

ACCELERATION OF THERMAL PROTONS BY GENERIC PHENOMENOLOGICAL MECHANISMS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Petrosian, Vahé; Kang, Byungwoo, E-mail: vahep@stanford.edu, E-mail: redcrux8@stanford.edu

2015-11-01

We investigate heating and acceleration of protons from a thermal gas with a generic diffusion and acceleration model, and subject to Coulomb scattering and energy loss, as was done by Petrosian and East for electrons. As protons gain energy their loss to electrons becomes important. Thus, we need to solve the coupled proton–electron kinetic equation. We numerically solve the coupled Fokker–Planck equations and compute the time evolution of the spectra of both particles. We show that this can lead to a quasi-thermal component plus a high-energy nonthermal tail. We determine the evolution of the nonthermal tail and the quasi-thermal component.more » The results may be used to explore the possibility of inverse bremsstrahlung radiation as a source of hard X-ray emissions from hot sources such as solar flares, accretion disk coronas, and the intracluster medium of galaxy clusters. We find that the emergence of nonthermal protons is accompanied by excessive heating of the entire plasma, unless the turbulence needed for scattering and acceleration is steeper than Kolmogorov and the acceleration parameters, the duration of the acceleration, and/or the initial distributions are significantly fine-tuned. These results severely constrain the feasibility of the nonthermal inverse bremsstrahlung process producing hard X-ray emissions. However, the nonthermal tail may be the seed particles for further re-acceleration to relativistic energies, say by a shock. In the Appendix we present some tests of the integrity of the algorithm used and present a new formula for the energy loss rate due to inelastic proton–proton interactions.« less

Microstructured snow targets for high energy quasi-monoenergetic proton acceleration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schleifer, E.; Nahum, E.; Eisenmann, S.; Botton, M.; Baspaly, A.; Pomerantz, I.; Abricht, F.; Branzel, J.; Priebe, G.; Steinke, S.; Andreev, A.; Schnuerer, M.; Sandner, W.; Gordon, D.; Sprangle, P.; Ledingham, K. W. D.; Zigler, A.

2013-05-01

Compact size sources of high energy protons (50-200MeV) are expected to be key technology in a wide range of scientific applications 1-8. One promising approach is the Target Normal Sheath Acceleration (TNSA) scheme 9,10, holding record level of 67MeV protons generated by a peta-Watt laser 11. In general, laser intensity exceeding 1018 W/cm2 is required to produce MeV level protons. Another approach is the Break-Out Afterburner (BOA) scheme which is a more efficient acceleration scheme but requires an extremely clean pulse with contrast ratio of above 10-10. Increasing the energy of the accelerated protons using modest energy laser sources is a very attractive task nowadays. Recently, nano-scale targets were used to accelerate ions 12,13 but no significant enhancement of the accelerated proton energy was measured. Here we report on the generation of up to 20MeV by a modest (5TW) laser system interacting with a microstructured snow target deposited on a Sapphire substrate. This scheme relax also the requirement of high contrast ratio between the pulse and the pre-pulse, where the latter produces the highly structured plasma essential for the interaction process. The plasma near the tip of the snow target is subject to locally enhanced laser intensity with high spatial gradients, and enhanced charge separation is obtained. Electrostatic fields of extremely high intensities are produced, and protons are accelerated to MeV-level energies. PIC simulations of this targets reproduce the experimentally measured energy scaling and predict the generation of 150 MeV protons from laser power of 100TW laser system18.

Optimization of the combined proton acceleration regime with a target composition scheme

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yao, W. P.; Graduate School, China Academy of Engineering Physics, Beijing 100088; Li, B. W., E-mail: li-baiwen@iapcm.ac.cn

A target composition scheme to optimize the combined proton acceleration regime is presented and verified by two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations by using an ultra-intense circularly polarized (CP) laser pulse irradiating an overdense hydrocarbon (CH) target, instead of a pure hydrogen (H) one. The combined acceleration regime is a two-stage proton acceleration scheme combining the radiation pressure dominated acceleration (RPDA) stage and the laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA) stage sequentially together. Protons get pre-accelerated in the first stage when an ultra-intense CP laser pulse irradiating an overdense CH target. The wakefield is driven by the laser pulse after penetrating through the overdense CHmore » target and propagating in the underdense tritium plasma gas. With the pre-accelerate stage, protons can now get trapped in the wakefield and accelerated to much higher energy by LWFA. Finally, protons with higher energies (from about 20 GeV up to about 30 GeV) and lower energy spreads (from about 18% down to about 5% in full-width at half-maximum, or FWHM) are generated, as compared to the use of a pure H target. It is because protons can be more stably pre-accelerated in the first RPDA stage when using CH targets. With the increase of the carbon-to-hydrogen density ratio, the energy spread is lower and the maximum proton energy is higher. It also shows that for the same laser intensity around 10{sup 22} W cm{sup −2}, using the CH target will lead to a higher proton energy, as compared to the use of a pure H target. Additionally, proton energy can be further increased by employing a longitudinally negative gradient of a background plasma density.« less

Influence of micromachined targets on laser accelerated proton beam profiles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dalui, Malay; Permogorov, Alexander; Pahl, Hannes; Persson, Anders; Wahlström, Claes-Göran

2018-03-01

High intensity laser-driven proton acceleration from micromachined targets is studied experimentally in the target-normal-sheath-acceleration regime. Conical pits are created on the front surface of flat aluminium foils of initial thickness 12.5 and 3 μm using series of low energy pulses (0.5-2.5 μJ). Proton acceleration from such micromachined targets is compared with flat foils of equivalent thickness at a laser intensity of 7 × 1019 W cm-2. The maximum proton energy obtained from targets machined from 12.5 μm thick foils is found to be slightly lower than that of flat foils of equivalent remaining thickness, and the angular divergence of the proton beam is observed to increase as the depth of the pit approaches the foil thickness. Targets machined from 3 μm thick foils, on the other hand, show evidence of increasing the maximum proton energy when the depths of the structures are small. Furthermore, shallow pits on 3 μm thick foils are found to be efficient in reducing the proton beam divergence by a factor of up to three compared to that obtained from flat foils, while maintaining the maximum proton energy.

Novel target design for enhanced laser driven proton acceleration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dalui, Malay; Kundu, M.; Tata, Sheroy; Lad, Amit D.; Jha, J.; Ray, Krishanu; Krishnamurthy, M.

2017-09-01

We demonstrate a simple method of preparing structured target for enhanced laser-driven proton acceleration under target-normal-sheath-acceleration scheme. A few layers of genetically modified, clinically grown micron sized E. Coli bacteria cell coated on a thin metal foil has resulted in an increase in the maximum proton energy by about 1.5 times and the total proton yield is enhanced by approximately 25 times compared to an unstructured reference foil at a laser intensity of 1019 W/cm2. Particle-in-cell simulations on the system shows that the structures on the target-foil facilitates anharmonic resonance, contributing to enhanced hot electron production which leads to stronger accelerating field. The effect is observed to grow as the number of structures is increased in the focal area of the laser pulse.

Improvement Plans of Fermilab’s Proton Accelerator Complex

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shiltsev, Vladimir

2017-09-01

The flagship of Fermilab’s long term research program is the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE), located Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in Lead, South Dakota, which will study neutrino oscillations with a baseline of 1300 km. The neutrinos will be produced in the Long Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF), a proposed new beam line from Fermilab’s Main Injector. The physics goals of the DUNE require a proton beam with a power of some 2.4 MW at 120 GeV, which is roughly four times the current maximum power. Here I discuss current performance of the Fermilab proton accelerator complex, our plans for construction of the SRF proton linac as key part of the Proton Improvement Plan-II (PIP-II), outline the main challenges toward multi-MW beam power operation of the Fermilab accelerator complex and the staged plan to achieve the required performance over the next 15 years.

Proton acceleration measurements using fs laser irradiation of foils in the target normal sheath acceleration regime

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Batani, D.; Boutoux, G.; Burgy, F.; Jakubowska, K.; Ducret, J. E.

2018-05-01

We present experimental results obtained at the CELIA laboratory using the laser ECLIPSE to study proton acceleration from ultra-intense laser pulses. Several types of targets were irradiated with different laser conditions (focusing and prepulse level). Proton emission was characterized using time-of-flight detectors (SiC and diamond) and a Thomson parabola spectrometer. In all cases, the maximum energy of observed protons was of the order of 260 keV with a large energy spectrum. Such characteristics are typical of protons emitted following the target normal sheath acceleration mechanism for low-energy short-pulse lasers like ECLIPSE.

Role of neutrino mixing in accelerated proton decay

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blasone, M.; Lambiase, G.; Luciano, G. G.; Petruzziello, L.

2018-05-01

The decay of accelerated protons has been analyzed both in the laboratory frame (where the proton is accelerated) and in the comoving frame (where the proton is at rest and interacts with the Fulling-Davies-Unruh thermal bath of electrons and neutrinos). The equality between the two rates has been exhibited as an evidence of the necessity of Fulling-Davies-Unruh effect for the consistency of quantum field theory formalism. Recently, it has been argued that neutrino mixing can spoil such a result, potentially opening new scenarios in neutrino physics. In the present paper, we analyze in detail this problem, and we find that, assuming flavor neutrinos to be fundamental and working within a certain approximation, the agreement can be restored.

Fermilab proton accelerator complex status and improvement plans

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Shiltsev, Vladimir

2017-05-30

Fermilab carries out an extensive program of accelerator-based high energy particle physics research at the Intensity Frontier that relies on the operation of 8 GeV and 120 GeV proton beamlines for a n umber of fixed target experiments. Routine operation with a world-record 700kW of average 120 GeV beam power on the neutrino target was achieved in 2017 as the result of the Proton Improvement Plan (PIP) upgrade. There are plans to further increase the power to 900 – 1000 kW. The next major upgrade of the FNAL accelerator complex, called PIP-II, is under development. It aims at 1.2MW beammore » power on target at the start of the LBNF/DUNE experiment in the middle of the next decade and assumes replacement of the existing 40-years old 400 MeV normal-conducting Linac with a modern 800 MeV superconducting RF linear accelerator. There are several concepts to further double the beam power to >2.4MW after replacement of the existing 8 GeV Booster synchrotron. In this article we discuss current performance of the Fermilab proton accelerator complex, the upgrade plans for the next two decades and the accelerator R&D program to address cost and performance risks for these upgrades.« less

An analytical reconstruction model of the spread-out Bragg peak using laser-accelerated proton beams.

PubMed

Tao, Li; Zhu, Kun; Zhu, Jungao; Xu, Xiaohan; Lin, Chen; Ma, Wenjun; Lu, Haiyang; Zhao, Yanying; Lu, Yuanrong; Chen, Jia-Er; Yan, Xueqing

2017-07-07

With the development of laser technology, laser-driven proton acceleration provides a new method for proton tumor therapy. However, it has not been applied in practice because of the wide and decreasing energy spectrum of laser-accelerated proton beams. In this paper, we propose an analytical model to reconstruct the spread-out Bragg peak (SOBP) using laser-accelerated proton beams. Firstly, we present a modified weighting formula for protons of different energies. Secondly, a theoretical model for the reconstruction of SOBPs with laser-accelerated proton beams has been built. It can quickly calculate the number of laser shots needed for each energy interval of the laser-accelerated protons. Finally, we show the 2D reconstruction results of SOBPs for laser-accelerated proton beams and the ideal situation. The final results show that our analytical model can give an SOBP reconstruction scheme that can be used for actual tumor therapy.

Enhanced proton acceleration in an applied longitudinal magnetic field

DOE PAGES

Arefiev, A.; Toncian, T.; Fiksel, G.

2016-10-31

Using two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, we examine how an externally applied strong magnetic field impacts proton acceleration in laser-irradiated solid-density targets. We find that a kT-level external magnetic field can sufficiently inhibit transverse transport of hot electrons in a flat laser-irradiated target. While the electron heating by the laser remains mostly unaffected, the reduced electron transport during proton acceleration leads to an enhancement of maximum proton energies and the overall number of energetic protons. The resulting proton beam is much better collimated compared to a beam generated without applying a kT-level magnetic field. A factor of three enhancement of the lasermore » energy conversion efficiency into multi-MeV protons is another effect of the magnetic field. The required kT-level magnetic fields are becoming feasible due to a significant progress that has been made in generating magnetic fields with laser-driven coils using ns-long laser pulses. The possibility of improving characteristics of laser-driven proton beams using such fields is a strong motivation for further development of laser-driven magnetic field capabilities.« less

Enhanced proton acceleration in an applied longitudinal magnetic field

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Arefiev, A.; Toncian, T.; Fiksel, G.

Using two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, we examine how an externally applied strong magnetic field impacts proton acceleration in laser-irradiated solid-density targets. We find that a kT-level external magnetic field can sufficiently inhibit transverse transport of hot electrons in a flat laser-irradiated target. While the electron heating by the laser remains mostly unaffected, the reduced electron transport during proton acceleration leads to an enhancement of maximum proton energies and the overall number of energetic protons. The resulting proton beam is much better collimated compared to a beam generated without applying a kT-level magnetic field. A factor of three enhancement of the lasermore » energy conversion efficiency into multi-MeV protons is another effect of the magnetic field. The required kT-level magnetic fields are becoming feasible due to a significant progress that has been made in generating magnetic fields with laser-driven coils using ns-long laser pulses. The possibility of improving characteristics of laser-driven proton beams using such fields is a strong motivation for further development of laser-driven magnetic field capabilities.« less

Role of target thickness in proton acceleration from near-critical mass-limited plasmas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuri, Deep Kumar; Das, Nilakshi; Patel, Kartik

2017-07-01

The role played by the target thickness in generating high energetic protons by a circularly polarized laser from near-critical mass-limited targets (MLT) has been investigated with the help of three-dimensional (3D) particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. The radiation pressure accelerates protons from the front side of the target. Due to hole boring, the target front side gets deformed resulting in a change in the effective angle of incidence which causes vacuum heating and hence generates hot electrons. These hot electrons travel through the target at an angle with the laser axis and hence get more diverged along transverse directions for large target thickness. The hot electrons form sheath fields on the target rear side which accelerates protons via target normal sheath acceleration (TNSA). It is observed that the collimation of radiation pressure accelerated protons gets degraded on reaching the target rear side due to TNSA. The effect of transverse hot electron recirculations gets suppressed and the energetic protons get highly collimated on decreasing target thickness as the radiation pressure acceleration (RPA) starts dominating the acceleration process.

Post-acceleration of laser driven protons with a compact high field linac

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sinigardi, Stefano; Londrillo, Pasquale; Rossi, Francesco; Turchetti, Giorgio; Bolton, Paul R.

2013-05-01

We present a start-to-end 3D numerical simulation of a hybrid scheme for the acceleration of protons. The scheme is based on a first stage laser acceleration, followed by a transport line with a solenoid or a multiplet of quadrupoles, and then a post-acceleration section in a compact linac. Our simulations show that from a laser accelerated proton bunch with energy selection at ~ 30MeV, it is possible to obtain a high quality monochromatic beam of 60MeV with intensity at the threshold of interest for medical use. In the present day experiments using solid targets, the TNSA mechanism describes accelerated bunches with an exponential energy spectrum up to a cut-off value typically below ~ 60MeV and wide angular distribution. At the cut-off energy, the number of protons to be collimated and post-accelerated in a hybrid scheme are still too low. We investigate laser-plasma acceleration to improve the quality and number of the injected protons at ~ 30MeV in order to assure efficient post-acceleration in the hybrid scheme. The results are obtained with 3D PIC simulations using a code where optical acceleration with over-dense targets, transport and post-acceleration in a linac can all be investigated in an integrated framework. The high intensity experiments at Nara are taken as a reference benchmarks for our virtual laboratory. If experimentally confirmed, a hybrid scheme could be the core of a medium sized infrastructure for medical research, capable of producing protons for therapy and x-rays for diagnosis, which complements the development of all optical systems.

A system for monitoring the radiation effects of a proton linear accelerator

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Skorkin, V. M., E-mail: skorkin@inr.ru; Belyanski, K. L.; Skorkin, A. V.

2016-12-15

The system for real-time monitoring of radioactivity of a high-current proton linear accelerator detects secondary neutron emission from proton beam losses in transport channels and measures the activity of radionuclides in gas and aerosol emissions and the radiation background in the environment affected by a linear accelerator. The data provided by gamma, beta, and neutron detectors are transferred over a computer network to the central server. The system allows one to monitor proton beam losses, the activity of gas and aerosol emissions, and the radiation emission level of a linear accelerator in operation.

Surfatron acceleration of protons by an electromagnetic wave at the heliosphere periphery

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Loznikov, V. M., E-mail: loznikov@yandex.ru; Erokhin, N. S.; Zol’nikova, N. N.

2013-10-15

The trapping and subsequent efficient surfatron acceleration of weakly relativistic protons by an electromagnetic wave propagating across an external magnetic field in plasma at the heliosphere periphery is considered. The problem is reduced to analysis of a second-order time-dependent nonlinear equation for the wave phase on the particle trajectory. The conditions of proton trapping by the wave, the dynamics of the components of the particle momentum and velocity, the structure of the phase plane, the particle trajectories, and the dependence of the acceleration rate on initial parameters of the problem are analyzed. The asymptotic behavior of the characteristics of acceleratedmore » particles for the heliosphere parameters is investigated. The optimum conditions for surfatron acceleration of protons by an electromagnetic wave are discussed. It is demonstrated that the experimentally observed deviation of the spectra of cosmic-ray protons from standard power-law dependences can be caused by the surfatron mechanism. It is shown that protons with initial energies of several GeV can be additionally accelerated in the heliosphere (the region located between the shock front of the solar wind and the heliopause at distances of about 100 astronomical units (a.u.) from the Sun) up to energies on the order of several thousands of GeV. In order to explain the proton spectra in the energy range of ∼20–500 GeV, a two-component phenomenological model is proposed. The first component corresponds to the constant (in this energy range) galactic contribution, while the second (variable) component corresponds to the heliospheric contribution, which appears due to the additional acceleration of soft cosmic-ray protons at the heliosphere periphery. Variations in the proton spectra measured on different time scales between 1992 and 2008 in the energy range from several tens to several hundred GeV, as well as the dependence of these spectra on the heliospheric weather, can be

Quasi-monoenergetic protons accelerated by laser radiation pressure and shocks in thin gaseous targets

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

He Minqing; Shao Xi; Liu Chuansheng

Recent experiments and simulations have demonstrated effective CO{sub 2} laser acceleration of quasi-monoenergetic protons from thick gaseous hydrogen target (of thickness tens of laser wavelengths) via hole boring and shock accelerations. We present here an alternative novel acceleration scheme by combining laser radiation pressure acceleration with shock acceleration of protons in a thin gaseous target of thickness several laser wavelengths. The laser pushes the thin gaseous plasma forward while compressing it with protons trapped in it. We demonstrated the combined acceleration with two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation and obtained quasi-monoenergetic protons {approx}44 MeV in a gas target of thickness twice of themore » laser wavelength irradiated by circularly polarized CO{sub 2} laser with normalized laser amplitude a{sub 0}=10.« less

Experimental Study of Proton Acceleration from Ultra Intense Laser Matter Interactions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Paudel, Yadab Kumar

This dissertation describes proton and ion acceleration measurements from high intensity (˜ 1019 Wcm-2) laser interactions with thin foil targets. Protons and ions accelerated from the back surface of a target driven by a high intensity laser are detected using solid-state nuclear track detector CR39. A simple digital imaging technique, with an adjustable halogen light source shined on CR39 and use of a digital camera with suitable f-number and exposure time, is used to detect particles tracks. This new technique improves the quality 2D image with vivid track patterns in CR39. Our technique allows us to quickly record and sort CR39 pieces for further analysis. This is followed by detailed quantitative information on the protons and ions. Protons and multicharged ions generated from high-intensity laser interactions with thin foil targets have been studied with a 100 TW laser system. Protons/ions with energies up to 10 MeV are accelerated either from the front or the rear surface of the target material. We have observed for the first time a self-radiograph of the target with a glass stalk holding the target itself in the stacked radiochromic films (RCF) placed behind the target. The self-radiography indicates that the fast ions accelerated backward, in a direction opposite to the laser propagation, are turning around in strong magnetic fields. This unique result is a signature of long-living (ns time scale) magnetic fields in the expanding plasma, which are important in energy transport during the intense laser irradiation and have never been considered in the previous studies. The magnetic fields induced by the main pulse near the absorption point expand rapidly with the backward accelerated protons in the pre-formed plasma. The protons are rotated by these magnetic fields and they are recorded in the RCF, making the self-radiography. Angular profiles of protons and multicharged ions accelerated from the target rear surface have been studied with the subpicosecond

The effect of stochastic re-acceleration on the energy spectrum of shock-accelerated protons

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Afanasiev, Alexandr; Vainio, Rami; Kocharov, Leon

2014-07-20

The energy spectra of particles in gradual solar energetic particle (SEP) events do not always have a power-law form attributed to the diffusive shock acceleration mechanism. In particular, the observed spectra in major SEP events can take the form of a broken (double) power law. In this paper, we study the effect of a process that can modify the power-law spectral form produced by the diffusive shock acceleration: the stochastic re-acceleration of energetic protons by enhanced Alfvénic turbulence in the downstream region of a shock wave. There are arguments suggesting that this process can be important when the shock propagatesmore » in the corona. We consider a coronal magnetic loop traversed by a shock and perform Monte Carlo simulations of interactions of shock-accelerated protons with Alfvén waves in the loop. The wave-particle interactions are treated self-consistently, so the finiteness of the available turbulent energy is taken into account. The initial energy spectrum of particles is taken to be a power law. The simulations reveal that the stochastic re-acceleration leads either to the formation of a spectrum that is described in a wide energy range by a power law (although the resulting power-law index is different from the initial one) or to a broken power-law spectrum. The resulting spectral form is determined by the ratio of the energy density of shock-accelerated protons to the wave energy density in the shock's downstream region.« less

The LILIA experiment: Energy selection and post-acceleration of laser generated protons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Turchetti, Giorgio; Sinigardi, Stefano; Londrillo, Pasquale; Rossi, Francesco; Sumini, Marco; Giove, Dario; De Martinis, Carlo

2012-12-01

The LILIA experiment is planned at the SPARCLAB facility of the Frascati INFN laboratories. We have simulated the laser acceleration of protons, the transport and energy selection with collimators and a pulsed solenoid and the post-acceleration with a compact high field linac. For the highest achievable intensity corresponding to a = 30 over 108 protons at 30 MeV with a 3% spread are selected, and at least107 protons are post-accelerated up to 60 MeV. If a 10 Hz repetition rated can be achieved the delivered dose would be suitable for the treatment of small superficial tumors.

Spot size dependence of laser accelerated protons in thin multi-ion foils

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Liu, Tung-Chang, E-mail: tcliu@umd.edu; Shao, Xi; Liu, Chuan-Sheng

2014-06-15

We present a numerical study of the effect of the laser spot size of a circularly polarized laser beam on the energy of quasi-monoenergetic protons in laser proton acceleration using a thin carbon-hydrogen foil. The used proton acceleration scheme is a combination of laser radiation pressure and shielded Coulomb repulsion due to the carbon ions. We observe that the spot size plays a crucial role in determining the net charge of the electron-shielded carbon ion foil and consequently the efficiency of proton acceleration. Using a laser pulse with fixed input energy and pulse length impinging on a carbon-hydrogen foil, amore » laser beam with smaller spot sizes can generate higher energy but fewer quasi-monoenergetic protons. We studied the scaling of the proton energy with respect to the laser spot size and obtained an optimal spot size for maximum proton energy flux. Using the optimal spot size, we can generate an 80 MeV quasi-monoenergetic proton beam containing more than 10{sup 8} protons using a laser beam with power 250 TW and energy 10 J and a target of thickness 0.15 wavelength and 49 critical density made of 90% carbon and 10% hydrogen.« less

FLARE VERSUS SHOCK ACCELERATION OF HIGH-ENERGY PROTONS IN SOLAR ENERGETIC PARTICLE EVENTS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cliver, E. W.

2016-12-01

Recent studies have presented evidence for a significant to dominant role for a flare-resident acceleration process for high-energy protons in large (“gradual”) solar energetic particle (SEP) events, contrary to the more generally held view that such protons are primarily accelerated at shock waves driven by coronal mass ejections (CMEs). The new support for this flare-centric view is provided by correlations between the sizes of X-ray and/or microwave bursts and associated SEP events. For one such study that considered >100 MeV proton events, we present evidence based on CME speeds and widths, shock associations, and electron-to-proton ratios that indicates that eventsmore » omitted from that investigation’s analysis should have been included. Inclusion of these outlying events reverses the study’s qualitative result and supports shock acceleration of >100 MeV protons. Examination of the ratios of 0.5 MeV electron intensities to >100 MeV proton intensities for the Grechnev et al. event sample provides additional support for shock acceleration of high-energy protons. Simply scaling up a classic “impulsive” SEP event to produce a large >100 MeV proton event implies the existence of prompt 0.5 MeV electron events that are approximately two orders of magnitude larger than are observed. While classic “impulsive” SEP events attributed to flares have high electron-to-proton ratios (≳5 × 10{sup 5}) due to a near absence of >100 MeV protons, large poorly connected (≥W120) gradual SEP events, attributed to widespread shock acceleration, have electron-to-proton ratios of ∼2 × 10{sup 3}, similar to those of comparably sized well-connected (W20–W90) SEP events.« less

Flare vs. Shock Acceleration of High-energy Protons in Solar Energetic Particle Events

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cliver, E. W.

2016-12-01

Recent studies have presented evidence for a significant to dominant role for a flare-resident acceleration process for high-energy protons in large (“gradual”) solar energetic particle (SEP) events, contrary to the more generally held view that such protons are primarily accelerated at shock waves driven by coronal mass ejections (CMEs). The new support for this flare-centric view is provided by correlations between the sizes of X-ray and/or microwave bursts and associated SEP events. For one such study that considered >100 MeV proton events, we present evidence based on CME speeds and widths, shock associations, and electron-to-proton ratios that indicates that events omitted from that investigation’s analysis should have been included. Inclusion of these outlying events reverses the study’s qualitative result and supports shock acceleration of >100 MeV protons. Examination of the ratios of 0.5 MeV electron intensities to >100 MeV proton intensities for the Grechnev et al. event sample provides additional support for shock acceleration of high-energy protons. Simply scaling up a classic “impulsive” SEP event to produce a large >100 MeV proton event implies the existence of prompt 0.5 MeV electron events that are approximately two orders of magnitude larger than are observed. While classic “impulsive” SEP events attributed to flares have high electron-to-proton ratios (≳5 × 105) due to a near absence of >100 MeV protons, large poorly connected (≥W120) gradual SEP events, attributed to widespread shock acceleration, have electron-to-proton ratios of ˜2 × 103, similar to those of comparably sized well-connected (W20-W90) SEP events.

Laser acceleration of protons using multi-ion plasma gaseous targets

DOE PAGES

Liu, Tung -Chang; Shao, Xi; Liu, Chuan -Sheng; ...

2015-02-01

We present a theoretical and numerical study of a novel acceleration scheme by applying a combination of laser radiation pressure and shielded Coulomb repulsion in laser acceleration of protons in multi-species gaseous targets. By using a circularly polarized CO₂ laser pulse with a wavelength of 10 μm—much greater than that of a Ti: Sapphire laser—the critical density is significantly reduced, and a high-pressure gaseous target can be used to achieve an overdense plasma. This gives us a larger degree of freedom in selecting the target compounds or mixtures, as well as their density and thickness profiles. By impinging such amore » laser beam on a carbon–hydrogen target, the gaseous target is first compressed and accelerated by radiation pressure until the electron layer disrupts, after which the protons are further accelerated by the electron-shielded carbon ion layer. An 80 MeV quasi-monoenergetic proton beam can be generated using a half-sine shaped laser beam with a peak power of 70 TW and a pulse duration of 150 wave periods.« less

Quasi-monoenergetic proton acceleration from cryogenic hydrogen microjet by ultrashort ultraintense laser pulses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharma, A.; Tibai, Z.; Hebling, J.; Fülöp, J. A.

2018-03-01

Laser-driven proton acceleration from a micron-sized cryogenic hydrogen microjet target is investigated using multi-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. With few-cycle (20-fs) ultraintense (2-PW) laser pulses, high-energy quasi-monoenergetic proton acceleration is predicted in a new regime. A collisionless shock-wave acceleration mechanism influenced by Weibel instability results in a maximum proton energy as high as 160 MeV and a quasi-monoenergetic peak at 80 MeV for 1022 W/cm2 laser intensity with controlled prepulses. A self-generated strong quasi-static magnetic field is also observed in the plasma, which modifies the spatial distribution of the proton beam.

Investigation of longitudinal proton acceleration in exploded targets irradiated by intense short-pulse laser

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gauthier, M.; CEA, DAM, DIF, 91297 Arpajon; Lévy, A.

2014-01-15

It was recently shown that a promising way to accelerate protons in the forward direction to high energies is to use under-dense or near-critical density targets instead of solids. Simulations have revealed that the acceleration process depends on the density gradients of the plasma target. Indeed, under certain conditions, the most energetic protons are predicted to be accelerated by a collisionless shock mechanism that significantly increases their energy. We report here the results of a recent experiment dedicated to the study of longitudinal ion acceleration in partially exploded foils using a high intensity (∼5 × 10{sup 18} W/cm{sup 2}) picosecond laser pulse. Wemore » show that protons accelerated using targets having moderate front and rear plasma gradients (up to ∼8 μm gradient length) exhibit similar maximum proton energy and number compared to proton beams that are produced, in similar laser conditions, from solid targets, in the well-known target normal sheath acceleration regime. Particle-In-Cell simulations, performed in the same conditions as the experiment and consistent with the measurements, allow laying a path for further improvement of this acceleration scheme.« less

Accelerating protons to therapeutic energies with ultraintense, ultraclean, and ultrashort laser pulses

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bulanov, Stepan S.; Brantov, Andrei; Bychenkov, Valery Yu.

2008-05-15

Proton acceleration by high-intensity laser pulses from ultrathin foils for hadron therapy is discussed. With the improvement of the laser intensity contrast ratio to 10{sup -11} achieved on the Hercules laser at the University of Michigan, it became possible to attain laser-solid interactions at intensities up to 10{sup 22} W/cm{sup 2} that allows an efficient regime of laser-driven ion acceleration from submicron foils. Particle-in-cell (PIC) computer simulations of proton acceleration in the directed Coulomb explosion regime from ultrathin double-layer (heavy ions/light ions) foils of different thicknesses were performed under the anticipated experimental conditions for the Hercules laser with pulse energiesmore » from 3 to 15 J, pulse duration of 30 fs at full width half maximum (FWHM), focused to a spot size of 0.8 {mu}m (FWHM). In this regime heavy ions expand predominantly in the direction of laser pulse propagation enhancing the longitudinal charge separation electric field that accelerates light ions. The dependence of the maximum proton energy on the foil thickness has been found and the laser pulse characteristics have been matched with the thickness of the target to ensure the most efficient acceleration. Moreover, the proton spectrum demonstrates a peaked structure at high energies, which is required for radiation therapy. Two-dimensional PIC simulations show that a 150-500 TW laser pulse is able to accelerate protons up to 100-220 MeV energies.« less

Accelerating protons to therapeutic energies with ultraintense, ultraclean, and ultrashort laser pulses

PubMed Central

Bulanov, Stepan S.; Brantov, Andrei; Bychenkov, Valery Yu.; Chvykov, Vladimir; Kalinchenko, Galina; Matsuoka, Takeshi; Rousseau, Pascal; Reed, Stephen; Yanovsky, Victor; Krushelnick, Karl; Litzenberg, Dale William; Maksimchuk, Anatoly

2008-01-01

Proton acceleration by high-intensity laser pulses from ultrathin foils for hadron therapy is discussed. With the improvement of the laser intensity contrast ratio to 10−11 achieved on the Hercules laser at the University of Michigan, it became possible to attain laser-solid interactions at intensities up to 1022 W∕cm2 that allows an efficient regime of laser-driven ion acceleration from submicron foils. Particle-in-cell (PIC) computer simulations of proton acceleration in the directed Coulomb explosion regime from ultrathin double-layer (heavy ions∕light ions) foils of different thicknesses were performed under the anticipated experimental conditions for the Hercules laser with pulse energies from 3 to 15 J, pulse duration of 30 fs at full width half maximum (FWHM), focused to a spot size of 0.8 μm (FWHM). In this regime heavy ions expand predominantly in the direction of laser pulse propagation enhancing the longitudinal charge separation electric field that accelerates light ions. The dependence of the maximum proton energy on the foil thickness has been found and the laser pulse characteristics have been matched with the thickness of the target to ensure the most efficient acceleration. Moreover, the proton spectrum demonstrates a peaked structure at high energies, which is required for radiation therapy. Two-dimensional PIC simulations show that a 150–500 TW laser pulse is able to accelerate protons up to 100–220 MeV energies. PMID:18561651

Efficient laser-driven proton acceleration from cylindrical and planar cryogenic hydrogen jets

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Obst, Lieselotte; Gode, Sebastian; Rehwald, Martin

We report on recent experimental results deploying a continuous cryogenic hydrogen jet as a debris-free, renewable laser-driven source of pure proton beams generated at the 150 TW ultrashort pulse laser Draco. Efficient proton acceleration reaching cut-off energies of up to 20 MeV with particle numbers exceeding 109 particles per MeV per steradian is demonstrated, showing for the first time that the acceleration performance is comparable to solid foil targets with thicknesses in the micrometer range. Two different target geometries are presented and their proton beam deliverance characterized: cylindrical (Ø 5 μm) and planar (20 μm × 2 μm). In bothmore » cases typical Target Normal Sheath Acceleration emission patterns with exponential proton energy spectra are detected. Significantly higher proton numbers in laser-forward direction are observed when deploying the planar jet as compared to the cylindrical jet case. As a result, this is confirmed by two-dimensional Particle-in-Cell (2D3V PIC) simulations, which demonstrate that the planar jet proves favorable as its geometry leads to more optimized acceleration conditions.« less

Efficient laser-driven proton acceleration from cylindrical and planar cryogenic hydrogen jets

DOE PAGES

Obst, Lieselotte; Gode, Sebastian; Rehwald, Martin; ...

2017-08-31

We report on recent experimental results deploying a continuous cryogenic hydrogen jet as a debris-free, renewable laser-driven source of pure proton beams generated at the 150 TW ultrashort pulse laser Draco. Efficient proton acceleration reaching cut-off energies of up to 20 MeV with particle numbers exceeding 109 particles per MeV per steradian is demonstrated, showing for the first time that the acceleration performance is comparable to solid foil targets with thicknesses in the micrometer range. Two different target geometries are presented and their proton beam deliverance characterized: cylindrical (Ø 5 μm) and planar (20 μm × 2 μm). In bothmore » cases typical Target Normal Sheath Acceleration emission patterns with exponential proton energy spectra are detected. Significantly higher proton numbers in laser-forward direction are observed when deploying the planar jet as compared to the cylindrical jet case. As a result, this is confirmed by two-dimensional Particle-in-Cell (2D3V PIC) simulations, which demonstrate that the planar jet proves favorable as its geometry leads to more optimized acceleration conditions.« less

TAC Proton Accelerator Facility: The Status and Road Map

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Algin, E.; Akkus, B.; Caliskan, A.

2011-06-28

Proton Accelerator (PA) Project is at a stage of development, working towards a Technical Design Report under the roof of a larger-scale Turkish Accelerator Center (TAC) Project. The project is supported by the Turkish State Planning Organization. The PA facility will be constructed in a series of stages including a 3 MeV test stand, a 55 MeV linac which can be extended to 100+ MeV, and then a full 1-3 GeV proton synchrotron or superconducting linac. In this article, science applications, overview, and current status of the PA Project will be given.

The R/D of high power proton accelerator technology in China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xialing, Guan

2002-12-01

In China, a multipurpose verification system as a first phase of our ADS program consists of a low energy accelerator (150 MeV/3 mA proton LINAC) and a swimming pool light water subcritical reactor. In this paper the activities of HPPA technology related to ADS in China, which includes the intense proton ECR source, the RFQ accelerator and some other technology of HPPA, are described.

Characteristics of Four SPE Classes According to Onset Timing and Proton Acceleration Patterns

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Roksoon

2015-04-01

In our previous work (Kim et al., 2015), we suggested a new classification scheme, which categorizes the SPEs into four groups based on association with flare or CME inferred from onset timings as well as proton acceleration patterns using multienergy observations. In this study, we have tried to find whether there are any typical characteristics of associated events and acceleration sites in each group using 42 SPEs from 1997 to 2012. We find: (i) if the proton acceleration starts from a lower energy, a SPE has a higher chance to be a strong event (> 5000 pfu) even if the associated flare and CME are not so strong. The only difference between the SPEs associated with flare and CME is the location of the acceleration site. For the former, the sites are very low ( ~1 Rs) and close to the western limb, while the latter has a relatively higher (mean=6.05 Rs) and wider acceleration sites. (ii) When the proton acceleration starts from the higher energy, a SPE tends to be a relatively weak event (< 1000 pfu), in spite of its associated CME is relatively stronger than previous group. (iii) The SPEs categorized by the simultaneous proton acceleration in whole energy range within 10 minutes, tend to show the weakest proton flux (mean=327 pfu) in spite of strong related eruptions. Their acceleration heights are very close to the locations of type II radio bursts. Based on those results, we suggest that the different characteristics of the four groups are mainly due to the different mechanisms governing the acceleration pattern and interval, and different condition such as the acceleration location.

High-quality electron beam generation in a proton-driven hollow plasma wakefield accelerator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Y.; Xia, G.; Lotov, K. V.; Sosedkin, A. P.; Hanahoe, K.; Mete-Apsimon, O.

2017-10-01

Simulations of proton-driven plasma wakefield accelerators have demonstrated substantially higher accelerating gradients compared to conventional accelerators and the viability of accelerating electrons to the energy frontier in a single plasma stage. However, due to the strong intrinsic transverse fields varying both radially and in time, the witness beam quality is still far from suitable for practical application in future colliders. Here we demonstrate the efficient acceleration of electrons in proton-driven wakefields in a hollow plasma channel. In this regime, the witness bunch is positioned in the region with a strong accelerating field, free from plasma electrons and ions. We show that the electron beam carrying the charge of about 10% of 1 TeV proton driver charge can be accelerated to 0.6 TeV with a preserved normalized emittance in a single channel of 700 m. This high-quality and high-charge beam may pave the way for the development of future plasma-based energy frontier colliders.

Proton and Ion Acceleration using Multi-kJ Lasers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wilks, S. C.; Ma, T.; Kemp, A. J.; Tabak, M.; Link, A. J.; Haefner, C.; Hermann, M. R.; Mariscal, D. A.; Rubenchik, S.; Sterne, P.; Kim, J.; McGuffey, C.; Bhutwala, K.; Beg, F.; Wei, M.; Kerr, S. M.; Sentoku, Y.; Iwata, N.; Norreys, P.; Sevin, A.

2017-10-01

Short (<50 ps) laser pulses are capable of accelerating protons and ions from solid (or dense gas jet) targets as demonstrated by a number of laser facilities around the world in the past 20 years accelerating protons to between 1 and 100 MeV, depending on specific laser parameters. Over this time, a distinct scaling with energy has emerged that shows a trend towards increasing maximum accelerated proton (ion) energy with increasing laser energy. We consider the physical basis underlying this scaling, and use this to estimate future results when multi-kJ laser systems begin operating in this new high energy regime. In particular, we consider the effects of laser prepulse, intensity, energy, and pulse length on the number and energy of the ions, as well as target size and composition. We also discuss potential uses of these ion beams in High Energy Density Physics Experiments. This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344 and funded by the LLNL LDRD program under tracking code 17-ERD-039.

Rapid acceleration of protons upstream of earthward propagating dipolarization fronts

PubMed Central

Ukhorskiy, AY; Sitnov, MI; Merkin, VG; Artemyev, AV

2013-01-01

[1] Transport and acceleration of ions in the magnetotail largely occurs in the form of discrete impulsive events associated with a steep increase of the tail magnetic field normal to the neutral plane (Bz), which are referred to as dipolarization fronts. The goal of this paper is to investigate how protons initially located upstream of earthward moving fronts are accelerated at their encounter. According to our analytical analysis and simplified two-dimensional test-particle simulations of equatorially mirroring particles, there are two regimes of proton acceleration: trapping and quasi-trapping, which are realized depending on whether the front is preceded by a negative depletion in Bz. We then use three-dimensional test-particle simulations to investigate how these acceleration processes operate in a realistic magnetotail geometry. For this purpose we construct an analytical model of the front which is superimposed onto the ambient field of the magnetotail. According to our numerical simulations, both trapping and quasi-trapping can produce rapid acceleration of protons by more than an order of magnitude. In the case of trapping, the acceleration levels depend on the amount of time particles stay in phase with the front which is controlled by the magnetic field curvature ahead of the front and the front width. Quasi-trapping does not cause particle scattering out of the equatorial plane. Energization levels in this case are limited by the number of encounters particles have with the front before they get magnetized behind it. PMID:26167430

Ring-like spatial distribution of laser accelerated protons in the ultra-high-contrast TNSA-regime

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Becker, G. A.; Tietze, S.; Keppler, S.; Reislöhner, J.; Bin, J. H.; Bock, L.; Brack, F.-E.; Hein, J.; Hellwing, M.; Hilz, P.; Hornung, M.; Kessler, A.; Kraft, S. D.; Kuschel, S.; Liebetrau, H.; Ma, W.; Polz, J.; Schlenvoigt, H.-P.; Schorcht, F.; Schwab, M. B.; Seidel, A.; Zeil, K.; Schramm, U.; Zepf, M.; Schreiber, J.; Rykovanov, S.; Kaluza, M. C.

2018-05-01

The spatial distribution of protons accelerated from submicron-thick plastic foil targets using multi-terawatt, frequency-doubled laser pulses with ultra-high temporal contrast has been investigated experimentally. A very stable, ring-like beam profile of the accelerated protons, oriented around the target’s normal direction has been observed. The ring’s opening angle has been found to decrease with increasing foil thicknesses. Two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations reproduce our results indicating that the ring is formed during the expansion of the proton density distribution into the vacuum as described by the mechanism of target-normal sheath acceleration. Here—in addition to the longitudinal electric fields responsible for the forward acceleration of the protons—a lateral charge separation leads to transverse field components accelerating the protons in the lateral direction.

Shock-wave proton acceleration from a hydrogen gas jet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cook, Nathan; Pogorelsky, Igor; Polyanskiy, Mikhail; Babzien, Marcus; Tresca, Olivier; Maharjan, Chakra; Shkolnikov, Peter; Yakimenko, Vitaly

2013-04-01

Typical laser acceleration experiments probe the interaction of intense linearly-polarized solid state laser pulses with dense metal targets. This interaction generates strong electric fields via Transverse Normal Sheath Acceleration and can accelerate protons to high peak energies but with a large thermal spectrum. Recently, the advancement of high pressure amplified CO2 laser technology has allowed for the creation of intense (10^16 Wcm^2) pulses at λ˜10 μm. These pulses may interact with reproducible, high rep. rate gas jet targets and still produce plasmas of critical density (nc˜10^19 cm-3), leading to the transference of laser energy via radiation pressure. This acceleration mode has the advantage of producing narrow energy spectra while scaling well with pulse intensity. We observe the interaction of an intense CO2 laser pulse with an overdense hydrogen gas jet. Using two pulse optical probing in conjunction with interferometry, we are able to obtain density profiles of the plasma. Proton energy spectra are obtained using a magnetic spectrometer and scintillating screen.

Laser beam-profile impression and target thickness impact on laser-accelerated protons

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Schollmeier, M.; Harres, K.; Nuernberg, F.

Experimental results on the influence of the laser focal spot shape onto the beam profile of laser-accelerated protons from gold foils are reported. The targets' microgrooved rear side, together with a stack of radiochromic films, allowed us to deduce the energy-dependent proton source-shape and size, respectively. The experiments show, that shape and size of the proton source depend only weakly on target thickness as well as shape of the laser focus, although they strongly influence the proton's intensity distribution. It was shown that the laser creates an electron beam that closely follows the laser beam topology, which is maintained duringmore » the propagation through the target. Protons are then accelerated from the rear side with an electron created electric field of a similar shape. Simulations with the Sheath-Accelerated Beam Ray-tracing for IoN Analysis code SABRINA, which calculates the proton distribution in the detector for a given laser-beam profile, show that the electron distribution during the transport through a thick target (50 {mu}m Au) is only modified due to multiple small angle scattering. Thin targets (10 {mu}m) show large source sizes of over 100 {mu}m diameter for 5 MeV protons, which cannot be explained by multiple scattering only and are most likely the result of refluxing electrons.« less

Near monochromatic 20 Me V proton acceleration using fs laser irradiating Au foils in target normal sheath acceleration regime

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Torrisi, L., E-mail: Lorenzo.Torrisi@unime.it; Ceccio, G.; Cannavò, A.

2016-04-15

A 200 mJ laser pulse energy, 39 fs-pulse duration, 10 μm focal spot, p-polarized radiation has been employed to irradiate thin Au foils to produce proton acceleration in the forward direction. Gold foils were employed to produce high density relativistic electrons emission in the forward direction to generate a high electric field driving the ion acceleration. Measurements were performed by changing the focal position in respect of the target surface. Proton acceleration was monitored using fast SiC detectors in time-of-flight configuration. A high proton energy, up to about 20 Me V, with a narrow energy distribution, was obtained in particular conditions dependingmore » on the laser parameters, the irradiation conditions, and a target optimization.« less

A scintillator-based online detector for the angularly resolved measurement of laser-accelerated proton spectra.

PubMed

Metzkes, J; Karsch, L; Kraft, S D; Pawelke, J; Richter, C; Schürer, M; Sobiella, M; Stiller, N; Zeil, K; Schramm, U

2012-12-01

In recent years, a new generation of high repetition rate (~10 Hz), high power (~100 TW) laser systems has stimulated intense research on laser-driven sources for fast protons. Considering experimental instrumentation, this development requires online diagnostics for protons to be added to the established offline detection tools such as solid state track detectors or radiochromic films. In this article, we present the design and characterization of a scintillator-based online detector that gives access to the angularly resolved proton distribution along one spatial dimension and resolves 10 different proton energy ranges. Conceived as an online detector for key parameters in laser-proton acceleration, such as the maximum proton energy and the angular distribution, the detector features a spatial resolution of ~1.3 mm and a spectral resolution better than 1.5 MeV for a maximum proton energy above 12 MeV in the current design. Regarding its areas of application, we consider the detector a useful complement to radiochromic films and Thomson parabola spectrometers, capable to give immediate feedback on the experimental performance. The detector was characterized at an electrostatic Van de Graaff tandetron accelerator and tested in a laser-proton acceleration experiment, proving its suitability as a diagnostic device for laser-accelerated protons.

Role of target material in proton acceleration from thin foils irradiated by ultrashort laser pulses.

PubMed

Tayyab, M; Bagchi, S; Ramakrishna, B; Mandal, T; Upadhyay, A; Ramis, R; Chakera, J A; Naik, P A; Gupta, P D

2014-08-01

We report on the proton acceleration studies from thin metallic foils of varying atomic number (Z) and thicknesses, investigated using a 45 fs, 10 TW Ti:sapphire laser system. An optimum foil thickness was observed for efficient proton acceleration for our laser conditions, dictated by the laser ASE prepulse and hot electron propagation behavior inside the material. The hydrodynamic simulations for ASE prepulse support the experimental observation. The observed maximum proton energy at different thicknesses for a given element is in good agreement with the reported scaling laws. The results with foils of different atomic number Z suggest that a judicious choice of the foil material can enhance the proton acceleration efficiency, resulting into higher proton energy.

Proton shock acceleration using a high contrast high intensity laser

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gauthier, Maxence; Roedel, Christian; Kim, Jongjin; Aurand, Bastian; Curry, Chandra; Goede, Sebastian; Propp, Adrienne; Goyon, Clement; Pak, Art; Kerr, Shaun; Ramakrishna, Bhuvanesh; Ruby, John; William, Jackson; Glenzer, Siegfried

2015-11-01

Laser-driven proton acceleration is a field of intense research due to the interesting characteristics of this novel particle source including high brightness, high maximum energy, high laminarity, and short duration. Although the ion beam characteristics are promising for many future applications, such as in the medical field or hybrid accelerators, the ion beam generated using TNSA, the acceleration mechanism commonly achieved, still need to be significantly improved. Several new alternative mechanisms have been proposed such as collisionless shock acceleration (CSA) in order to produce a mono-energetic ion beam favorable for those applications. We report the first results of an experiment performed with the TITAN laser system (JLF, LLNL) dedicated to the study of CSA using a high intensity (5x1019W/cm2) high contrast ps laser pulse focused on 55 μm thick CH and CD targets. We show that the proton spectrum generated during the interaction exhibits high-energy mono-energetic features along the laser axis, characteristic of a shock mechanism.

Optimizing laser-driven proton acceleration from overdense targets

PubMed Central

Stockem Novo, A.; Kaluza, M. C.; Fonseca, R. A.; Silva, L. O.

2016-01-01

We demonstrate how to tune the main ion acceleration mechanism in laser-plasma interactions to collisionless shock acceleration, thus achieving control over the final ion beam properties (e. g. maximum energy, divergence, number of accelerated ions). We investigate this technique with three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations and illustrate a possible experimental realisation. The setup consists of an isolated solid density target, which is preheated by a first laser pulse to initiate target expansion, and a second one to trigger acceleration. The timing between the two laser pulses allows to access all ion acceleration regimes, ranging from target normal sheath acceleration, to hole boring and collisionless shock acceleration. We further demonstrate that the most energetic ions are produced by collisionless shock acceleration, if the target density is near-critical, ne ≈ 0.5 ncr. A scaling of the laser power shows that 100 MeV protons may be achieved in the PW range. PMID:27435449

On the Possibility of Acceleration of Polarized Protons in the Synchrotron Nuclotron

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shatunov, Yu. M.; Koop, I. A.; Otboev, A. V.; Mane, S. P.; Shatunov, P. Yu.

2018-05-01

One of the main tasks of the NICA project is to produce colliding beams of polarized protons. It is planned to accelerate polarized protons from the source to the maximum energy in the existing proton synchrotron. We consider all depolarizing spin resonances in the Nuclotron and propose methods to overcome them.

Neutrino Oscillations at Proton Accelerators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Michael, Douglas

2002-12-01

Data from many different experiments have started to build a first glimpse of the phenomenology associated with neutrino oscillations. Results on atmospheric and solar neutrinos are particularly clear while a third result from LSND suggests a possibly very complex oscillation phenomenology. As impressive as the results from current experiments are, it is clear that we are just getting started on a long-term experimental program to understand neutrino masses, mixings and the physics which produce them. A number of exciting fundamental physics possibilities exist, including that neutrino oscillations could demonstrate CP or CPT violation and could be tied to exotic high-energy phenomena including strings and extra dimensions. A complete exploration of oscillation phenomena demands many experiments, including those possible using neutrino beams produced at high energy proton accelerators. Most existing neutrino experiments are statistics limited even though they use gigantic detectors. High intensity proton beams are essential for producing the intense neutrino beams which we need for next generation neutrino oscillation experiments.

Ultralow emittance, multi-MeV proton beams from a laser virtual-cathode plasma accelerator.

PubMed

Cowan, T E; Fuchs, J; Ruhl, H; Kemp, A; Audebert, P; Roth, M; Stephens, R; Barton, I; Blazevic, A; Brambrink, E; Cobble, J; Fernández, J; Gauthier, J-C; Geissel, M; Hegelich, M; Kaae, J; Karsch, S; Le Sage, G P; Letzring, S; Manclossi, M; Meyroneinc, S; Newkirk, A; Pépin, H; Renard-LeGalloudec, N

2004-05-21

The laminarity of high-current multi-MeV proton beams produced by irradiating thin metallic foils with ultraintense lasers has been measured. For proton energies >10 MeV, the transverse and longitudinal emittance are, respectively, <0.004 mm mrad and <10(-4) eV s, i.e., at least 100-fold and may be as much as 10(4)-fold better than conventional accelerator beams. The fast acceleration being electrostatic from an initially cold surface, only collisions with the accelerating fast electrons appear to limit the beam laminarity. The ion beam source size is measured to be <15 microm (FWHM) for proton energies >10 MeV.

Accelerator Facilities for Radiation Research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cucinotta, Francis A.

1999-01-01

HSRP Goals in Accelerator Use and Development are: 1.Need for ground-based heavy ion and proton facility to understand space radiation effects discussed most recently by NAS/NRC Report (1996). 2. Strategic Program Goals in facility usage and development: -(1) operation of AGS for approximately 600 beam hours/year; (2) operation of Loma Linda University (LLU) proton facility for approximately 400 beam hours/year; (3) construction of BAF facility; and (4) collaborative research at HIMAC in Japan and with other existing or potential international facilities. 3. MOA with LLU has been established to provide proton beams with energies of 40-250 important for trapped protons and solar proton events. 4. Limited number of beam hours available at Brookhaven National Laboratory's (BNL) Alternating Gradient Synchrotron (AGS).

Proton acceleration by a pair of successive ultraintense femtosecond laser pulses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferri, J.; Senje, L.; Dalui, M.; Svensson, K.; Aurand, B.; Hansson, M.; Persson, A.; Lundh, O.; Wahlström, C.-G.; Gremillet, L.; Siminos, E.; DuBois, T. C.; Yi, L.; Martins, J. L.; Fülöp, T.

2018-04-01

We investigate the target normal sheath acceleration of protons in thin aluminum targets irradiated at a relativistic intensity by two time-separated ultrashort (35 fs) laser pulses. When the full-energy laser pulse is temporally split into two identical half-energy pulses, and using target thicknesses of 3 and 6 μm, we observe experimentally that the second half-pulse boosts the maximum energy and charge of the proton beam produced by the first half-pulse for time delays below ˜0.6-1 ps. Using two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, we examine the variation of the proton energy spectra with respect to the time-delay between the two pulses. We demonstrate that the expansion of the target front surface caused by the first pulse significantly enhances the hot-electron generation by the second pulse arriving after a few hundreds of fs time delay. This enhancement, however, does not suffice to further accelerate the fastest protons driven by the first pulse once three-dimensional quenching effects have set in. This implies a limit to the maximum time delay that leads to proton energy enhancement, which we theoretically determine.

Dosimetric advantages of IMPT over IMRT for laser-accelerated proton beams

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luo, W.; Li, J.; Fourkal, E.; Fan, J.; Xu, X.; Chen, Z.; Jin, L.; Price, R.; Ma, C.-M.

2008-12-01

As a clinical application of an exciting scientific breakthrough, a compact and cost-efficient proton therapy unit using high-power laser acceleration is being developed at Fox Chase Cancer Center. The significance of this application depends on whether or not it can yield dosimetric superiority over intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). The goal of this study is to show how laser-accelerated proton beams with broad energy spreads can be optimally used for proton therapy including intensity-modulated proton therapy (IMPT) and achieve dosimetric superiority over IMRT for prostate cancer. Desired energies and spreads with a varying δE/E were selected with the particle selection device and used to generate spread-out Bragg peaks (SOBPs). Proton plans were generated on an in-house Monte Carlo-based inverse-planning system. Fifteen prostate IMRT plans previously used for patient treatment have been included for comparison. Identical dose prescriptions, beam arrangement and consistent dose constrains were used for IMRT and IMPT plans to show the dosimetric differences that were caused only by the different physical characteristics of proton and photon beams. Different optimization constrains and beam arrangements were also used to find optimal IMPT. The results show that conventional proton therapy (CPT) plans without intensity modulation were not superior to IMRT, but IMPT can generate better proton plans if appropriate beam setup and optimization are used. Compared to IMRT, IMPT can reduce the target dose heterogeneity ((D5-D95)/D95) by up to 56%. The volume receiving 65 Gy and higher (V65) for the bladder and the rectum can be reduced by up to 45% and 88%, respectively, while the volume receiving 40 Gy and higher (V40) for the bladder and the rectum can be reduced by up to 49% and 68%, respectively. IMPT can also reduce the whole body non-target tissue dose by up to 61% or a factor 2.5. This study has shown that the laser accelerator under development has a

Spectral characterization of laser-accelerated protons with CR-39 nuclear track detector.

PubMed

Seimetz, M; Bellido, P; García, P; Mur, P; Iborra, A; Soriano, A; Hülber, T; García López, J; Jiménez-Ramos, M C; Lera, R; Ruiz-de la Cruz, A; Sánchez, I; Zaffino, R; Roso, L; Benlloch, J M

2018-02-01

CR-39 nuclear track material is frequently used for the detection of protons accelerated in laser-plasma interactions. The measurement of track densities allows for determination of particle angular distributions, and information on the kinetic energy can be obtained by the use of passive absorbers. We present a precise method of measuring spectral distributions of laser-accelerated protons in a single etching and analysis process. We make use of a one-to-one relation between proton energy and track size and present a precise calibration based on monoenergetic particle beams. While this relation is limited to proton energies below 1 MeV, we show that the range of spectral measurements can be significantly extended by simultaneous use of absorbers of suitable thicknesses. Examples from laser-plasma interactions are presented, and quantitative results on proton energies and particle numbers are compared to those obtained from a time-of-flight detector. The spectrum end points of continuous energy distributions have been determined with both detector types and coincide within 50-100 keV.

Control of target-normal-sheath-accelerated protons from a guiding cone

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zou, D. B.; Institut für Theoretische Physik I, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf 40225; Zhuo, H. B., E-mail: hongbin.zhuo@gmail.com

2015-06-15

It is demonstrated through particle-in-cell simulations that target-normal-sheath-accelerated protons can be well controlled by using a guiding cone. Compared to a conventional planar target, both the collimation and number density of proton beams are substantially improved, giving a high-quality proton beam which maintained for a longer distance without degradation. The effect is attributed to the radial electric field resulting from the charge due to the hot target electrons propagating along the cone surface. This electric field can effectively suppress the spatial spread of the protons after the expansion of the hot electrons.

High Energy electron and proton acceleration by circularly polarized laser pulse from near critical density hydrogen gas target.

PubMed

Sharma, Ashutosh

2018-02-01

Relativistic electron rings hold the possibility of very high accelerating rates, and hopefully a relatively cheap and compact accelerator/collimator for ultrahigh energy proton source. In this work, we investigate the generation of helical shaped quasi-monoenergetic relativistic electron beam and high-energy proton beam from near critical density plasmas driven by petawatt-circularly polarized-short laser pulses. We numerically observe the efficient proton acceleration from magnetic vortex acceleration mechanism by using the three dimensional particle-in-cell simulations; proton beam with peak energy 350 MeV, charge ~10nC and conversion efficiency more than 6% (which implies 2.4 J proton beam out of the 40 J incident laser energy) is reported. We detailed the microphysics involved in the ion acceleration mechanism, which requires investigating the role of self-generated plasma electric and magnetic fields. The concept of efficient generation of quasi-monoenergetic electron and proton beam from near critical density gas targets may be verified experimentally at advanced high power - high repetition rate laser facilities e.g. ELI-ALPS. Such study should be an important step towards the development of high quality electron and proton beam.

How to Produce a Reactor Neutron Spectrum Using a Proton Accelerator

DOE PAGES

Burns, Kimberly A.; Wootan, David W.; Gates, Robert O.; ...

2015-06-18

A method for reproducing the neutron energy spectrum present in the core of an operating nuclear reactor using an engineered target in an accelerator proton beam is proposed. The protons interact with a target to create neutrons through various (p,n) type reactions. Spectral tailoring of the emitted neutrons can be used to modify the energy of the generated neutron spectrum to represent various reactor spectra. Through the use of moderators and reflectors, the neutron spectrum can be modified to reproduce many different spectra of interest including spectra in small thermal test reactors, large pressurized water reactors, and fast reactors. Themore » particular application of this methodology is the design of an experimental approach for using an accelerator to measure the betas produced during fission to be used to reduce uncertainties in the interpretation of reactor antineutrino measurements. This approach involves using a proton accelerator to produce a neutron field representative of a power reactor, and using this neutron field to irradiate fission foils of the primary isotopes contributing to fission in the reactor, creating unstable, neutron rich fission products that subsequently beta decay and emit electron antineutrinos. A major advantage of an accelerator neutron source over a neutron beam from a thermal reactor is that the fast neutrons can be slowed down or tailored to approximate various power reactor spectra. An accelerator based neutron source that can be tailored to match various reactor neutron spectra provides an advantage for control in studying how changes in the neutron spectra affect parameters such as the resulting fission product beta spectrum.« less

Prospects of target nanostructuring for laser proton acceleration

PubMed Central

Lübcke, Andrea; Andreev, Alexander A.; Höhm, Sandra; Grunwald, Ruediger; Ehrentraut, Lutz; Schnürer, Matthias

2017-01-01

In laser-based proton acceleration, nanostructured targets hold the promise to allow for significantly boosted proton energies due to strong increase of laser absorption. We used laser-induced periodic surface structures generated in-situ as a very fast and economic way to produce nanostructured targets capable of high-repetition rate applications. Both in experiment and theory, we investigate the impact of nanostructuring on the proton spectrum for different laser–plasma conditions. Our experimental data show that the nanostructures lead to a significant enhancement of absorption over the entire range of laser plasma conditions investigated. At conditions that do not allow for efficient laser absorption by plane targets, i.e. too steep plasma gradients, nanostructuring is found to significantly enhance the proton cutoff energy and conversion efficiency. In contrast, if the plasma gradient is optimized for laser absorption of the plane target, the nanostructure-induced absorption increase is not reflected in higher cutoff energies. Both, simulation and experiment point towards the energy transfer from the laser to the hot electrons as bottleneck. PMID:28290479

Prospects of target nanostructuring for laser proton acceleration.

PubMed

Lübcke, Andrea; Andreev, Alexander A; Höhm, Sandra; Grunwald, Ruediger; Ehrentraut, Lutz; Schnürer, Matthias

2017-03-14

In laser-based proton acceleration, nanostructured targets hold the promise to allow for significantly boosted proton energies due to strong increase of laser absorption. We used laser-induced periodic surface structures generated in-situ as a very fast and economic way to produce nanostructured targets capable of high-repetition rate applications. Both in experiment and theory, we investigate the impact of nanostructuring on the proton spectrum for different laser-plasma conditions. Our experimental data show that the nanostructures lead to a significant enhancement of absorption over the entire range of laser plasma conditions investigated. At conditions that do not allow for efficient laser absorption by plane targets, i.e. too steep plasma gradients, nanostructuring is found to significantly enhance the proton cutoff energy and conversion efficiency. In contrast, if the plasma gradient is optimized for laser absorption of the plane target, the nanostructure-induced absorption increase is not reflected in higher cutoff energies. Both, simulation and experiment point towards the energy transfer from the laser to the hot electrons as bottleneck.

Prospects of target nanostructuring for laser proton acceleration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lübcke, Andrea; Andreev, Alexander A.; Höhm, Sandra; Grunwald, Ruediger; Ehrentraut, Lutz; Schnürer, Matthias

2017-03-01

In laser-based proton acceleration, nanostructured targets hold the promise to allow for significantly boosted proton energies due to strong increase of laser absorption. We used laser-induced periodic surface structures generated in-situ as a very fast and economic way to produce nanostructured targets capable of high-repetition rate applications. Both in experiment and theory, we investigate the impact of nanostructuring on the proton spectrum for different laser-plasma conditions. Our experimental data show that the nanostructures lead to a significant enhancement of absorption over the entire range of laser plasma conditions investigated. At conditions that do not allow for efficient laser absorption by plane targets, i.e. too steep plasma gradients, nanostructuring is found to significantly enhance the proton cutoff energy and conversion efficiency. In contrast, if the plasma gradient is optimized for laser absorption of the plane target, the nanostructure-induced absorption increase is not reflected in higher cutoff energies. Both, simulation and experiment point towards the energy transfer from the laser to the hot electrons as bottleneck.

High quality proton beams from hybrid integrated laser-driven ion acceleration systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sinigardi, Stefano; Turchetti, Giorgio; Rossi, Francesco; Londrillo, Pasquale; Giove, Dario; De Martinis, Carlo; Bolton, Paul R.

2014-03-01

We consider a hybrid acceleration scheme for protons where the laser generated beam is selected in energy and angle and injected into a compact linac, which raises the energy from 30 to 60 MeV. The laser acceleration regime is TNSA and the energy spectrum is determined by the cutoff energy and proton temperature. The dependence of the spectrum on the target properties and the incidence angle is investigated with 2D PIC simulations. We base our work on widely available technologies and on laser with a short pulse, having in mind a facility whose cost is approximately 15 M €. Using a recent experiment as the reference, we choose the laser pulse and target so that the energy spectrum obtained from the 3D PIC simulation is close to the one observed, whose cutoff energy was estimated to be over 50 MeV. Laser accelerated protons in the TNSA regime have wide energy spectrum and broad divergence. In this paper we compare three transport lines, designed to perform energy selection and beam collimation. They are based on a solenoid, a quadruplet of permanent magnetic quadrupoles and a chicane. To increase the maximum available energy, which is actually seen as an upper limit due to laser properties and available targets, we propose to inject protons into a small linac for post-acceleration. The number of selected and injected protons is the highest with the solenoid and lower by one and two orders of magnitude with the quadrupoles and the chicane respectively. Even though only the solenoid enables achieving to reach a final intensity at the threshold required for therapy with the highest beam quality, the other systems will be very likely used in the first experiments. Realistic start-to-end simulations, as the ones reported here, are relevant for the design of such experiments.

On the feasibility of increasing the energy of laser-accelerated protons by using low-density targets

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Brantov, A. V., E-mail: brantov@lebedev.ru; Bychenkov, V. Yu., E-mail: bychenk@lebedev.ru

2015-06-15

Optimal regimes of proton acceleration in the interaction of short high-power laser pulses with thin foils and low-density targets are determined by means of 3D numerical simulation. It is demonstrated that the maximum proton energy can be increased by using low-density targets in which ions from the front surface of the target are accelerated most efficiently. It is shown using a particular example that, for the same laser pulse, the energy of protons accelerated from a low-density target can be increased by one-third as compared to a solid-state target.

Enhanced laser radiation pressure acceleration of protons with a gold cone-capillary

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lv, Chong; Xie, Bai-Song; Wan, Feng; Hou, Ya-Juan; Jia, Mo-Ran; Sang, Hai-Bo; Hong, Xue-Ren; Liu, Shi-Bing

2017-03-01

A scheme with a gold cone-capillary is proposed to improve the protons acceleration, and involved problems are investigated by using the two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. It is demonstrated that the cone-capillary can efficiently guide and collimate the protons to a longer distance and result in a better beam quality with a dense density ≥ 10 n c , monoenergetic peak energy E k ˜ 1.51 GeV , spatial emittance ˜ 0.0088 mm mrad with divergence angle θ ˜ 1.0 ° and diameter ˜ 0.5 μ m . The enhancement is mainly attributed to the focusing effect by the transverse electric field generated by the cone as well as the capillary, which can prevent greatly the protons from expanding in the transverse direction. Comparable to without the capillary, the protons energy spectra have a stable monoenergetic peak and divergence angle nearby 1.0 ° in longer time. Besides, the efficiency of acceleration depending on the capillary length is explored, and the optimal capillary length is also achieved. Such a target may be beneficial to many applications such as ion fast ignition in inertial fusion, proton therapy and so on.

Beam collimation and energy spectrum compression of laser-accelerated proton beams using solenoid field and RF cavity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Teng, J.; Gu, Y. Q.; Zhu, B.; Hong, W.; Zhao, Z. Q.; Zhou, W. M.; Cao, L. F.

2013-11-01

This paper presents a new method of laser produced proton beam collimation and spectrum compression using a combination of a solenoid field and a RF cavity. The solenoid collects laser-driven protons efficiently within an angle that is smaller than 12 degrees because it is mounted few millimeters from the target, and collimates protons with energies around 2.3 MeV. The collimated proton beam then passes through a RF cavity to allow compression of the spectrum. Particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations demonstrate the proton beam transport in the solenoid and RF electric fields. Excellent energy compression and collection efficiency of protons are presented. This method for proton beam optimization is suitable for high repetition-rate laser acceleration proton beams, which could be used as an injector for a conventional proton accelerator.

RF cavity design and qualification for proton accelerator

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Teotia, Vikas; Malhotra, Sanjay; Ukarde, Priti

Alvarez type Drift Tube Linac (DTL) is used for acceleration of proton beam in low energy section of beta ranging from 0.04 to 0.40. DTL is cylindrical RF cavity resonating in TM010 mode at 352.21 MHz frequency. It consists of array of drift tubes arranged ensuring that DTL centre and Drift Tube centre are concentric. The Drift Tubes also houses Permanent Magnet Quadrupole for transverse focusing of proton beam. A twelve cell prototype of DTL section is designed, developed and fabricated at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Trombay. Complete DTL accelerator consists of eight such DTL sections. High frequency microwave simulationsmore » are carried out in SOPRANO, vector fields and COMSOL simulation software. This prototype DTL is 1640.56 mm long cavity with 520 mm ID, 600 mm OD and consists of eleven Drift Tubes, two RF end flanges, three slug tuners, six post couplers, three RF field monitors, one RF waveguide coupler, two DN100 vacuum flanges and DTL tank platform with alignment features. Girder based Drift tube mounting arrangement utilizing uncompressing energy of disc springs for optimum combo RF-vacuum seal compression is worked out and implemented. This paper discusses design of this RF vacuum cavity operating at high accelerating field gradient in ultra-high vacuum. Detailed vacuum design and results of RF and vacuum qualifications are discussed. Results on mechanical accuracy achieved on scaled pre-prototype are also presented. Paper summarizes the engineering developments carried out for this RF cavity and brings out the future activities proposed in indigenous development of high gradient RF cavities for ion accelerators. (author)« less

Proton acceleration by multi-terawatt interaction with a near-critical density hydrogen jet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goers, Andy; Feder, Linus; Hine, George; Salehi, Fatholah; Woodbury, Daniel; Su, J. J.; Papadopoulos, Dennis; Zigler, Arie; Milchberg, Howard

2016-10-01

We investigate the high intensity laser interaction with thin, near critical density plasmas as a means of efficient acceleration of MeV protons. A promising mechanism is magnetic vortex acceleration, where the ponderomotive force of a tightly focused laser pulse drives a relativistic electron current which generates a strong azimuthal magnetic field. The rapid expansion of this azimuthal magnetic field at the back side of the target can accelerate plasma ions to MeV scale energies. Compared to typical ion acceleration experiments utilizing a laser- thin solid foil interaction, magnetic vortex acceleration in near critical density plasma may be realized in a high density gas jet, making it attractive for applications requiring high repetition rates. We present preliminary experiments studying laser-plasma interaction and proton acceleration in a thin (< 200 μm) near-critical density hydrogen gas jet delivering electron densities 1020 -1021 cm-3 . This research was funded by the United States Department of Energy and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) under Contract Number W911-NF-15-C-0217, issued by the Army Research Office.

Accelerating monoenergetic protons from ultrathin foils by flat-top laser pulses in the directed-Coulomb-explosion regime

PubMed Central

Bulanov, S. S.; Brantov, A.; Bychenkov, V. Yu.; Chvykov, V.; Kalinchenko, G.; Matsuoka, T.; Rousseau, P.; Reed, S.; Yanovsky, V.; Litzenberg, D. W.; Krushelnick, K.; Maksimchuk, A.

2008-01-01

We consider the effect of laser beam shaping on proton acceleration in the interaction of a tightly focused pulse with ultrathin double-layer solid targets in the regime of directed Coulomb explosion. In this regime, the heavy ions of the front layer are forced by the laser to expand predominantly in the direction of the pulse propagation, forming a moving longitudinal charge separation electric field, thus increasing the effectiveness of acceleration of second-layer protons. The utilization of beam shaping, namely, the use of flat-top beams, leads to more efficient proton acceleration due to the increase of the longitudinal field. PMID:18850951

Self-generated surface magnetic fields inhibit laser-driven sheath acceleration of high-energy protons.

PubMed

Nakatsutsumi, M; Sentoku, Y; Korzhimanov, A; Chen, S N; Buffechoux, S; Kon, A; Atherton, B; Audebert, P; Geissel, M; Hurd, L; Kimmel, M; Rambo, P; Schollmeier, M; Schwarz, J; Starodubtsev, M; Gremillet, L; Kodama, R; Fuchs, J

2018-01-18

High-intensity lasers interacting with solid foils produce copious numbers of relativistic electrons, which in turn create strong sheath electric fields around the target. The proton beams accelerated in such fields have remarkable properties, enabling ultrafast radiography of plasma phenomena or isochoric heating of dense materials. In view of longer-term multidisciplinary purposes (e.g., spallation neutron sources or cancer therapy), the current challenge is to achieve proton energies well in excess of 100 MeV, which is commonly thought to be possible by raising the on-target laser intensity. Here we present experimental and numerical results demonstrating that magnetostatic fields self-generated on the target surface may pose a fundamental limit to sheath-driven ion acceleration for high enough laser intensities. Those fields can be strong enough (~10 5  T at laser intensities ~10 21  W cm -2 ) to magnetize the sheath electrons and deflect protons off the accelerating region, hence degrading the maximum energy the latter can acquire.

Self-generated surface magnetic fields inhibit laser-driven sheath acceleration of high-energy protons

DOE PAGES

Nakatsutsumi, M.; Sentoku, Y.; Korzhimanov, A.; ...

2018-01-18

High-intensity lasers interacting with solid foils produce copious numbers of relativistic electrons, which in turn create strong sheath electric fields around the target. The proton beams accelerated in such fields have remarkable properties, enabling ultrafast radiography of plasma phenomena or isochoric heating of dense materials. In view of longer-term multidisciplinary purposes (e.g., spallation neutron sources or cancer therapy), the current challenge is to achieve proton energies well in excess of 100 MeV, which is commonly thought to be possible by raising the on-target laser intensity. Here we present experimental and numerical results demonstrating that magnetostatic fields self-generated on the targetmore » surface may pose a fundamental limit to sheath-driven ion acceleration for high enough laser intensities. Those fields can be strong enough (~10 5 T at laser intensities ~10 21 W cm –2) to magnetize the sheath electrons and deflect protons off the accelerating region, hence degrading the maximum energy the latter can acquire.« less

Self-generated surface magnetic fields inhibit laser-driven sheath acceleration of high-energy protons

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nakatsutsumi, M.; Sentoku, Y.; Korzhimanov, A.

High-intensity lasers interacting with solid foils produce copious numbers of relativistic electrons, which in turn create strong sheath electric fields around the target. The proton beams accelerated in such fields have remarkable properties, enabling ultrafast radiography of plasma phenomena or isochoric heating of dense materials. In view of longer-term multidisciplinary purposes (e.g., spallation neutron sources or cancer therapy), the current challenge is to achieve proton energies well in excess of 100 MeV, which is commonly thought to be possible by raising the on-target laser intensity. Here we present experimental and numerical results demonstrating that magnetostatic fields self-generated on the targetmore » surface may pose a fundamental limit to sheath-driven ion acceleration for high enough laser intensities. Those fields can be strong enough (~10 5 T at laser intensities ~10 21 W cm –2) to magnetize the sheath electrons and deflect protons off the accelerating region, hence degrading the maximum energy the latter can acquire.« less

SOLAR INTERACTING PROTONS VERSUS INTERPLANETARY PROTONS IN THE CORE PLUS HALO MODEL OF DIFFUSIVE SHOCK ACCELERATION AND STOCHASTIC RE-ACCELERATION

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kocharov, L.; Laitinen, T.; Vainio, R.

2015-06-10

With the first observations of solar γ-rays from the decay of pions, the relationship of protons producing ground level enhancements (GLEs) on the Earth to those of similar energies producing the γ-rays on the Sun has been debated. These two populations may be either independent and simply coincident in large flares, or they may be, in fact, the same population stemming from a single accelerating agent and jointly distributed at the Sun and also in space. Assuming the latter, we model a scenario in which particles are accelerated near the Sun in a shock wave with a fraction transported backmore » to the solar surface to radiate, while the remainder is detected at Earth in the form of a GLE. Interplanetary ions versus ions interacting at the Sun are studied for a spherical shock wave propagating in a radial magnetic field through a highly turbulent radial ray (the acceleration core) and surrounding weakly turbulent sector in which the accelerated particles can propagate toward or away from the Sun. The model presented here accounts for both the first-order Fermi acceleration at the shock front and the second-order, stochastic re-acceleration by the turbulence enhanced behind the shock. We find that the re-acceleration is important in generating the γ-radiation and we also find that up to 10% of the particle population can find its way to the Sun as compared to particles escaping to the interplanetary space.« less

Lithium target for accelerator based BNCT neutron source: Influence by the proton irradiation on lithium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fujii, R.; Imahori, Y.; Nakakmura, M.; Takada, M.; Kamada, S.; Hamano, T.; Hoshi, M.; Sato, H.; Itami, J.; Abe, Y.; Fuse, M.

2012-12-01

The neutron source for Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) is in the transition stage from nuclear reactor to accelerator based neutron source. Generation of low energy neutron can be achieved by 7Li (p, n) 7Be reaction using accelerator based neutron source. Development of small-scale and safe neutron source is within reach. The melting point of lithium that is used for the target is low, and durability is questioned for an extended use at a high current proton beam. In order to test its durability, we have irradiated lithium with proton beam at the same level as the actual current density, and found no deterioration after 3 hours of continuous irradiation. As a result, it is suggested that lithium target can withstand proton irradiation at high current, confirming suitability as accelerator based neutron source for BNCT.

Acceleration of polarized protons and deuterons in the ion collider ring of JLEIC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kondratenko, A. M.; Kondratenko, M. A.; Filatov, Yu N.; Derbenev, Ya S.; Lin, F.; Morozov, V. S.; Zhang, Y.

2017-07-01

The figure-8-shaped ion collider ring of Jefferson Lab Electron-Ion Collider (JLEIC) is transparent to the spin. It allows one to preserve proton and deuteron polarizations using weak stabilizing solenoids when accelerating the beam up to 100 GeV/c. When the stabilizing solenoids are introduced into the collider’s lattice, the particle spins precess about a spin field, which consists of the field induced by the stabilizing solenoids and the zero-integer spin resonance strength. During acceleration of the beam, the induced spin field is maintained constant while the resonance strength experiences significant changes in the regions of “interference peaks”. The beam polarization depends on the field ramp rate of the arc magnets. Its component along the spin field is preserved if acceleration is adiabatic. We present the results of our theoretical analysis and numerical modeling of the spin dynamics during acceleration of protons and deuterons in the JLEIC ion collider ring. We demonstrate high stability of the deuteron polarization in figure-8 accelerators. We analyze a change in the beam polarization when crossing the transition energy.

Prediction of scaling physics laws for proton acceleration with extended parameter space of the NIF ARC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bhutwala, Krish; Beg, Farhat; Mariscal, Derek; Wilks, Scott; Ma, Tammy

2017-10-01

The Advanced Radiographic Capability (ARC) laser at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is the world's most energetic short-pulse laser. It comprises four beamlets, each of substantial energy ( 1.5 kJ), extended short-pulse duration (10-30 ps), and large focal spot (>=50% of energy in 150 µm spot). This allows ARC to achieve proton and light ion acceleration via the Target Normal Sheath Acceleration (TNSA) mechanism, but it is yet unknown how proton beam characteristics scale with ARC-regime laser parameters. As theory has also not yet been validated for laser-generated protons at ARC-regime laser parameters, we attempt to formulate the scaling physics of proton beam characteristics as a function of laser energy, intensity, focal spot size, pulse length, target geometry, etc. through a review of relevant proton acceleration experiments from laser facilities across the world. These predicted scaling laws should then guide target design and future diagnostics for desired proton beam experiments on the NIF ARC. This work performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344 and funded by the LLNL LDRD program under tracking code 17-ERD-039.

Production of high energy protons with hole-boring radiation pressure acceleration

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Robinson, A. P. L.

The possibility of producing energetic protons with energies in the range of 100-200 MeV via hole-boring (HB) radiation pressure acceleration (RPA) at intensities around 10{sup 21} W cm{sup -2} is reexamined. It is found that hole-boring RPA can occur well below the relativistically corrected critical density in numerical simulations, with average proton energies in good agreement with established formulas. This suggests that protons in this energy range can be produced via HB RPA at around 10{sup 21} W cm{sup -2}. It is also shown that the prospects of doing this could be improved by using lasers of the same intensitymore » but longer wavelength.« less

A proton medical accelerator by the SBIR route — an example of technology transfer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martin, R. L.

1989-04-01

Medical facilities for radiation treatment of cancer with protons have been established in many laboratories throughout the world. Essentially all of these have been designed as physics facilities, however, because of the requirement for protons up to 250 MeV. Most of the experience in this branch of accelerator technology lies in the national laboratories and a few large universities. A major issue is the transfer of this technology to the commercial sector to provide hospitals with simple, reliable and relatively inexpensive accelerators for this application. The author has chosen the SBIR route to accomplish this goal. ACCTEK Associates has received grants from the National Cancer Institute for development of the medical accelerator and beam delivery systems. Considerable encouragement and help has been received from Argonne National Laboratory and the Department of Energy. The experiences to date and the pros and cons on this approach to commercializing medical accelerators are described.

Proton acceleration by irradiation of isolated spheres with an intense laser pulse

DOE PAGES

Ostermayr, Tobias M.; Haffa, D.; Hilz, P.; ...

2016-09-26

We report on experiments irradiating isolated plastic spheres with a peak laser intensity of 2–3 × 10 20 W cm –2. With a laser focal spot size of 10 μm full width half maximum (FWHM) the sphere diameter was varied between 520 nm and 19.3 μm. Maximum proton energies of ~ 25 MeV are achieved for targets matching the focal spot size of 10 μm in diameter or being slightly smaller. For smaller spheres the kinetic energy distributions of protons become nonmonotonic, indicating a change in the accelerating mechanism from ambipolar expansion towards a regime dominated by effects caused bymore » Coulomb repulsion of ions. The energy conversion efficiency from laser energy to proton kinetic energy is optimized when the target diameter matches the laser focal spot size with efficiencies reaching the percent level. The change of proton acceleration efficiency with target size can be attributed to the reduced cross-sectional overlap of subfocus targets with the laser. Reported experimental observations are in line with 3D3V particle in cell simulations. In conclusion, they make use of well-defined targets and point out pathways for future applications and experiments.« less

Proton acceleration by irradiation of isolated spheres with an intense laser pulse

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ostermayr, Tobias M.; Haffa, D.; Hilz, P.

We report on experiments irradiating isolated plastic spheres with a peak laser intensity of 2–3 × 10 20 W cm –2. With a laser focal spot size of 10 μm full width half maximum (FWHM) the sphere diameter was varied between 520 nm and 19.3 μm. Maximum proton energies of ~ 25 MeV are achieved for targets matching the focal spot size of 10 μm in diameter or being slightly smaller. For smaller spheres the kinetic energy distributions of protons become nonmonotonic, indicating a change in the accelerating mechanism from ambipolar expansion towards a regime dominated by effects caused bymore » Coulomb repulsion of ions. The energy conversion efficiency from laser energy to proton kinetic energy is optimized when the target diameter matches the laser focal spot size with efficiencies reaching the percent level. The change of proton acceleration efficiency with target size can be attributed to the reduced cross-sectional overlap of subfocus targets with the laser. Reported experimental observations are in line with 3D3V particle in cell simulations. In conclusion, they make use of well-defined targets and point out pathways for future applications and experiments.« less

Acceleration of polarized protons and deuterons in the ion collider ring of JLEIC

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kondratenko, A.; Kondratenko, M.; Filatov, Yu. N.

2017-07-01

The figure-8-shaped ion collider ring of Jefferson Lab Electron-Ion Collider (JLEIC) is transparent to the spin. It allows one to preserve proton and deuteron polarizations using weak stabilizing solenoids when accelerating the beam up to 100 GeV/c. When the stabilizing solenoids are introduced into the collider's lattice, the particle spins precess about a spin field, which consists of the field induced by the stabilizing solenoids and the zero-integer spin resonance strength. During acceleration of the beam, the induced spin field is maintained constant while the resonance strength experiences significant changes in the regions of "interference peaks". The beam polarization dependsmore » on the field ramp rate of the arc magnets. Its component along the spin field is preserved if acceleration is adiabatic. We present the results of our theoretical analysis and numerical modeling of the spin dynamics during acceleration of protons and deuterons in the JLEIC ion collider ring. We demonstrate high stability of the deuteron polarization in figure-8 accelerators. We analyze a change in the beam polarization when crossing the transition energy.« less

Advanced low-beta cavity development for proton and ion accelerators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Conway, Z. A.; Kelly, M. P.; Ostroumov, P. N.

2015-05-01

Recent developments in designing and processing low-beta superconducting cavities at Argonne National Laboratory are very encouraging for future applications requiring compact proton and ion accelerators. One of the major benefits of these accelerating structures is achieving real-estate accelerating gradients greater than 3 MV/m very efficiently either continuously or for long-duty cycle operation (>1%). The technology has been implemented in low-beta accelerator cryomodules for the Argonne ATLAS heavy-ion linac where the cryomodules are required to have real-estate gradients of more than 3 MV/m. In offline testing low-beta cavities with even higher gradients have already been achieved. This paper will review this work where we have achieved surface fields greater than 166 mT magnetic and 117 MV/m electric in a 72 MHz quarter-wave resonator optimized for β = 0.077 ions.

Surface production dominating Cs-free H- ion source for high intensity and high energy proton accelerators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ueno, Akira; Ikegami, Kiyoshi; Kondo, Yasuhiro

2004-05-01

A Cs-free negative hydrogen (H-) ion source driven by pulsed arc plasma with a LaB6 filament is being operated for the beam tests of the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC) linac. A peak H- current of 38 mA, which exceeds the requirement of the J-PARC first stage, is stably extracted from the ion source with a beam duty factor of 0.9% (360 μs×25 Hz) by principally optimizing the surface condition and shape of the plasma electrode. The sufficiently small emittance of the beam was confirmed by high transmission efficiency (around 90%) through the following 324 MHz 3 MeV J-PARC radio frequency quadrupole linac (M. Ikegami et al., Proc. 2003 Part. Accel. Conf. 2003, p. 1509). The process of the optimization, which confirms the validity of hypothesis that H- ions are produced by surface reaction on a Mo plasma electrode dominantly in the ion source, is presented.

Enhanced target normal sheath acceleration of protons from intense laser interaction with a cone-tube target

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Xiao, K. D.; Huang, T. W.; Zhou, C. T., E-mail: zcangtao@iapcm.ac.cn

2016-01-15

Laser driven proton acceleration is proposed to be greatly enhanced by using a cone-tube target, which can be easily manufactured by current 3D-print technology. It is observed that energetic electron bunches are generated along the tube and accelerated to a much higher temperature by the combination of ponderomotive force and longitudinal electric field which is induced by the optical confinement of the laser field. As a result, a localized and enhanced sheath field is produced at the rear of the target and the maximum proton energy is about three-fold increased based on the two-dimentional particle-in-cell simulation results. It is demonstratedmore » that by employing this advanced target scheme, the scaling of the proton energy versus the laser intensity is much beyond the normal target normal sheath acceleration (TNSA) case.« less

Acceleration of the highest energy cosmic rays through proton-neutron conversions in relativistic bulk flows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Derishev, E.; Aharonian, F.

We show that, in the presence of radiation field, relativistic bulk flows can very quikly accelerate protons and electrons up to the energies limited either by Hillas criterion or by synchrotron losses. Unlike the traditional approach, we take advantage of continuous photon-induced conversion of charged particle species to neutral ones, and vice versa (proton-neutron or electron-photon). Such a conversion, though it leads to considerable energy losses, allows accelerated particles to increase their energies in each scattering by a factor roughly equal to the bulk Lorentz factor, thus avoiding the need in slow and relatively inefficient diffusive acceleration. The optical depth of accelerating region with respect to inelastic photon-induced reactions (pair production for electrons and photomeson reactions for protons) should be a substancial fraction of unity. Remarkably, self-tuning of the optical depth is automatically achieved as long as the photon density depends on the distance along the bulk flow. This mechanism can work in Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs), Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs), microquasars, or any other object with relativistic bulk flows embedded in radiation-reach environment. Both GRBs and AGNs turn out to be capable of producing 1020 eV cosmic rays.

Controlling laser driven protons acceleration using a deformable mirror at a high repetition rate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Noaman-ul-Haq, M.; Sokollik, T.; Ahmed, H.; Braenzel, J.; Ehrentraut, L.; Mirzaie, M.; Yu, L.-L.; Sheng, Z. M.; Chen, L. M.; Schnürer, M.; Zhang, J.

2018-03-01

We present results from a proof-of-principle experiment to optimize laser driven protons acceleration by directly feeding back its spectral information to a deformable mirror (DM) controlled by evolutionary algorithms (EAs). By irradiating a stable high-repetition rate tape driven target with ultra-intense pulses of intensities ∼1020 W/ cm2, we optimize the maximum energy of the accelerated protons with a stability of less than ∼5% fluctuations near optimum value. Moreover, due to spatio-temporal development of the sheath field, modulations in the spectrum are also observed. Particularly, a prominent narrow peak is observed with a spread of ∼15% (FWHM) at low energy part of the spectrum. These results are helpful to develop high repetition rate optimization techniques required for laser-driven ion accelerators.

Neutron-decay Protons from Solar Flares as Seed Particles for CME-shock Acceleration in the Inner Heliosphere

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Murphy, Ronald J.; Ko, Yuan-Kuen, E-mail: ronald.murphy@nrl.navy.mil, E-mail: yuan-kuen.ko@nrl.navy.mil

The protons in large solar energetic particle events are accelerated in the inner heliosphere by fast shocks produced by coronal mass ejections. Unless there are other sources, the protons these shocks act upon would be those of the solar wind (SW). The efficiency of the acceleration depends on the kinetic energy of the protons. For a 2000 km s{sup −1} shock, the most effective proton energies would be 30–100 keV; i.e., within the suprathermal tail component of the SW. We investigate one possible additional source of such protons: those resulting from the decay of solar-flare-produced neutrons that escape from themore » Sun into the low corona. The neutrons are produced by interactions of flare-accelerated ions with the solar atmosphere. We discuss the production of low-energy neutrons in flares and their decay on a interplanetary magnetic field line near the Sun. We find that even when the flaring conditions are optimal, the 30–100 keV neutron-decay proton density produced by even a very large solar flare would be only about 10% of that of the 30–100 keV SW suprathermal tail. We discuss the implication of a seed-particle source of more frequent, small flares.« less

Advanced low-beta cavity development for proton and ion accelerators

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Conway, Z. A.; Kelly, M. P.; Ostroumov, P. N.

2015-05-01

Recent developments in designing and processing low-beta superconducting cavities at Argonne National Laboratory are very encouraging for future applications requiring compact proton and ion accelerators. One of the major benefits of these accelerating structures is achieving real-estate accelerating gradients greater than 3 MV/m very efficiently either continuously or for long-duty cycle operation (>1%). The technology has been implemented in low-beta accelerator cryomodules for the Argonne ATLAS heavy-ion linac where the cryomodules are required to have real-estate gradients of more than 3 MV/m. In offline testing low-beta cavities with even higher gradients have already been achieved. This paper will review thismore » work where we have achieved surface fields greater than 166 mT magnetic and 117 MV/m electric in a 72 MHz quarter-wave resonator optimized for beta = 0.077 ions.« less

Effect of target composition on proton acceleration in ultraintense laser-thin foil interaction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Qingcao; Liu, Meng; Yu, Tongpu; Ding, Pengji; Liu, Zuoye; Sun, Shaohua; Liu, Xiaoliang; Lu, Xing; Guo, Zeqin; Hu, Bitao

2012-09-01

The interactions of ultraintense circularly polarized laser pulses with a mixed solid target and a double-layer target are studied by two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. Different carbon and proton compositions in the targets are used in the simulations. It is shown that the proton acceleration mechanisms in both targets are very sensitive to the ion density ratios between protons and carbon ions. For a mixed solid target, a relatively low proton density gives rise to monoenergetic peaks in the proton energy spectrum while a high proton density leads to a large cut-off energy and wide energy spread. With the increase of the ratio, the so-called directed-Coulomb-explosion becomes dominated over the radiation pressure. Surprisingly, for a double-layer target with a front proton layer and an ultrathin rear carbon layer, a highly monoenergetic proton beam with a peak energy of 1.7 GeV/u, an energy spread of ˜4%, and a divergency angle of 2° can be obtained, which might have diverse applications in medical therepy and proton imaging in future.

Enhanced laser proton acceleration by target ablation on a femtosecond laser system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liao, Q.; Wu, M. J.; Gong, Z.; Geng, Y. X.; Xu, X. H.; Li, D. Y.; Shou, Y. R.; Zhu, J. G.; Li, C. C.; Yang, M.; Li, T. S.; Lu, H. Y.; Ma, W. J.; Zhao, Y. Y.; Lin, C.; Yan, X. Q.

2018-06-01

Proton acceleration during the interaction of an ultraintense (6 × 1019 W/cm2) femtosecond (fs) laser pulse with a thin (2.5 μm) foil target pre-ablated by a picosecond (ps) pulse is experimentally and numerically investigated. Enhancements in both proton cut-off energy and charge are observed with the target ablation due to a large number of energetic electrons generated from the preformed preplasma in front of the target. The enhanced proton beams are successfully collected at 4-9 MeV with ±4% energy spread and then transported to the irradiating platform. The results show that for the interaction between fs laser pulse and μm-thickness target, proton energy and charge can be enhanced by target ablation using a ps laser pulse, which is valuable for application like cancer radiotherapy.

A simple procedure for the estimation of neutron skyshine from proton accelerators.

PubMed

Stevenson, G R; Thomas, R H

1984-01-01

Recent calculations of neutron diffusion at an air/ground interface have enabled the establishment of a very simple procedure for estimating neutron dose equivalent at large distances from proton accelerators in the energy range 10 MeV to several tens of GeV.

Physics and Novel Schemes of Laser Radiation Pressure Acceleration for Quasi-monoenergetic Proton Generation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Liu, Chuan S.; Shao, Xi

2016-06-14

The main objective of our work is to provide theoretical basis and modeling support for the design and experimental setup of compact laser proton accelerator to produce high quality proton beams tunable with energy from 50 to 250 MeV using short pulse sub-petawatt laser. We performed theoretical and computational studies of energy scaling and Raleigh--Taylor instability development in laser radiation pressure acceleration (RPA) and developed novel RPA-based schemes to remedy/suppress instabilities for high-quality quasimonoenergetic proton beam generation as we proposed. During the project period, we published nine peer-reviewed journal papers and made twenty conference presentations including six invited talks onmore » our work. The project supported one graduate student who received his PhD degree in physics in 2013 and supported two post-doctoral associates. We also mentored three high school students and one undergraduate student of physics major by inspiring their interests and having them involved in the project.« less

Beam-based compensation of extracted-beam displacement caused by field ringing of pulsed kicker magnets in the 3 GeV rapid cycling synchrotron of the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harada, Hiroyuki; Saha, Pranab Kumar; Tamura, Fumihiko; Meigo, Shin-ichiro; Hotchi, Hideaki; Hayashi, Naoki; Kinsho, Michikazu; Hasegawa, Kazuo

2017-09-01

Commissioned in October 2007, the 3 GeV rapid cycling synchrotron (RCS) of the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex was designed for a high-intensity output beam power of 1 MW. The RCS extracts 3 GeV proton beams of two bunches by using eight pulsed kicker magnets and three DC septum magnets with 25 Hz repetition. These beams are delivered to a materials and life science experimental facility (MLF) and a 50 GeV main ring synchrotron (MR). However, the flat-top fields of the kicker magnets experience ringing that displaces the position of the extracted beam. This displacement is a major issue from the viewpoint of target integrity at the MLF and emittance growth at MR injection. To understand the flat-top uniformity of the total field of all the kickers, the uniformity was measured as the displacement of the extracted beams by using a shorter bunched beam and scanning the entire trigger timing of the kickers. The beam displacement of the first bunch exceeded the required range. Therefore, we performed beam-based measurements kicker by kicker to understand each field-ringing effect, and then we understood the characteristics (strength and temporal structure) of each ringing field. We managed to cancel out the ringing by using all the beam-based measurement data and optimizing each trigger timing. As a result, the field-ringing effect of the kickers was successfully compensated by optimizing the trigger timing of each kicker without hardware upgrades or improvements to the kicker system. By developing an automatic monitoring and correction system, we now have a higher stability of extracted beams during routine user operation. In this paper, we report our procedure for ringing compensation and present supporting experimental results.

Proton acceleration: new developments for focusing and energy selection, and applications in plasma physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Audebert, P.

2007-11-01

In the last few years, intense research has been conducted on laser-accelerated ion sources and their applications. These sources have exceptional properties, i.e. high brightness and high spectral cut-off, high directionality and laminarity, short burst duration. We have shown that for proton energies >10 MeV, the transverse and longitudinal emittance are respectively <0.004 mm-mrad and <10-4 eV-s, i.e. at least 100-fold and may be as much as 10^4-fold better than conventional accelerators beams. Thanks to these properties, these sources allow for example point-projection radiography with unprecedented resolution. We will show example of such time and space-resolved radiography of fast evolving fields, either of associated with the expansion of a plasma in vacuum [*] or with the propagation of a ICF-relevant laser beam in an underdense plasma. These proton sources also open new opportunities for ion beam generation and control, and could stimulate development of compact ion accelerators for many applications.

Acceleration of petaelectronvolt protons in the Galactic Centre

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

HESS Collaboration; Abramowski, A.; Aharonian, F.; Benkhali, F. Ait; Akhperjanian, A. G.; Angüner, E. O.; Backes, M.; Balzer, A.; Becherini, Y.; Tjus, J. Becker; Berge, D.; Bernhard, S.; Bernlöhr, K.; Birsin, E.; Blackwell, R.; Böttcher, M.; Boisson, C.; Bolmont, J.; Bordas, P.; Bregeon, J.; Brun, F.; Brun, P.; Bryan, M.; Bulik, T.; Carr, J.; Casanova, S.; Chakraborty, N.; Chalme-Calvet, R.; Chaves, R. C. G.; Chen, A.; Chrétien, M.; Colafrancesco, S.; Cologna, G.; Conrad, J.; Couturier, C.; Cui, Y.; Davids, I. D.; Degrange, B.; Deil, C.; Dewilt, P.; Djannati-Ataï, A.; Domainko, W.; Donath, A.; Drury, L. O'C.; Dubus, G.; Dutson, K.; Dyks, J.; Dyrda, M.; Edwards, T.; Egberts, K.; Eger, P.; Ernenwein, J.-P.; Espigat, P.; Farnier, C.; Fegan, S.; Feinstein, F.; Fernandes, M. V.; Fernandez, D.; Fiasson, A.; Fontaine, G.; Förster, A.; Füßling, M.; Gabici, S.; Gajdus, M.; Gallant, Y. A.; Garrigoux, T.; Giavitto, G.; Giebels, B.; Glicenstein, J. F.; Gottschall, D.; Goyal, A.; Grondin, M.-H.; Grudzińska, M.; Hadasch, D.; Häffner, S.; Hahn, J.; Hawkes, J.; Heinzelmann, G.; Henri, G.; Hermann, G.; Hervet, O.; Hillert, A.; Hinton, J. A.; Hofmann, W.; Hofverberg, P.; Hoischen, C.; Holler, M.; Horns, D.; Ivascenko, A.; Jacholkowska, A.; Jamrozy, M.; Janiak, M.; Jankowsky, F.; Jung-Richardt, I.; Kastendieck, M. A.; Katarzyński, K.; Katz, U.; Kerszberg, D.; Khélifi, B.; Kieffer, M.; Klepser, S.; Klochkov, D.; Kluźniak, W.; Kolitzus, D.; Komin, Nu.; Kosack, K.; Krakau, S.; Krayzel, F.; Krüger, P. P.; Laffon, H.; Lamanna, G.; Lau, J.; Lefaucheur, J.; Lefranc, V.; Lemiére, A.; Lemoine-Goumard, M.; Lenain, J.-P.; Lohse, T.; Lopatin, A.; Lu, C.-C.; Lui, R.; Marandon, V.; Marcowith, A.; Mariaud, C.; Marx, R.; Maurin, G.; Maxted, N.; Mayer, M.; Meintjes, P. J.; Menzler, U.; Meyer, M.; Mitchell, A. M. W.; Moderski, R.; Mohamed, M.; Morå, K.; Moulin, E.; Murach, T.; de Naurois, M.; Niemiec, J.; Oakes, L.; Odaka, H.; Öttl, S.; Ohm, S.; Opitz, B.; Ostrowski, M.; Oya, I.; Panter, M.; Parsons, R. D.; Arribas, M. Paz; Pekeur, N. W.; Pelletier, G.; Petrucci, P.-O.; Peyaud, B.; Pita, S.; Poon, H.; Prokoph, H.; Pühlhofer, G.; Punch, M.; Quirrenbach, A.; Raab, S.; Reichardt, I.; Reimer, A.; Reimer, O.; Renaud, M.; de Los Reyes, R.; Rieger, F.; Romoli, C.; Rosier-Lees, S.; Rowell, G.; Rudak, B.; Rulten, C. B.; Sahakian, V.; Salek, D.; Sanchez, D. A.; Santangelo, A.; Sasaki, M.; Schlickeiser, R.; Schüssler, F.; Schulz, A.; Schwanke, U.; Schwemmer, S.; Seyffert, A. S.; Simoni, R.; Sol, H.; Spanier, F.; Spengler, G.; Spies, F.; Stawarz, Ł.; Steenkamp, R.; Stegmann, C.; Stinzing, F.; Stycz, K.; Sushch, I.; Tavernet, J.-P.; Tavernier, T.; Taylor, A. M.; Terrier, R.; Tluczykont, M.; Trichard, C.; Tuffs, R.; Valerius, K.; van der Walt, J.; van Eldik, C.; van Soelen, B.; Vasileiadis, G.; Veh, J.; Venter, C.; Viana, A.; Vincent, P.; Vink, J.; Voisin, F.; Völk, H. J.; Vuillaume, T.; Wagner, S. J.; Wagner, P.; Wagner, R. M.; Weidinger, M.; Weitzel, Q.; White, R.; Wierzcholska, A.; Willmann, P.; Wörnlein, A.; Wouters, D.; Yang, R.; Zabalza, V.; Zaborov, D.; Zacharias, M.; Zdziarski, A. A.; Zech, A.; Zefi, F.; Żywucka, N.

2016-03-01

Galactic cosmic rays reach energies of at least a few petaelectronvolts (of the order of 1015 electronvolts). This implies that our Galaxy contains petaelectronvolt accelerators (‘PeVatrons’), but all proposed models of Galactic cosmic-ray accelerators encounter difficulties at exactly these energies. Dozens of Galactic accelerators capable of accelerating particles to energies of tens of teraelectronvolts (of the order of 1013 electronvolts) were inferred from recent γ-ray observations. However, none of the currently known accelerators—not even the handful of shell-type supernova remnants commonly believed to supply most Galactic cosmic rays—has shown the characteristic tracers of petaelectronvolt particles, namely, power-law spectra of γ-rays extending without a cut-off or a spectral break to tens of teraelectronvolts. Here we report deep γ-ray observations with arcminute angular resolution of the region surrounding the Galactic Centre, which show the expected tracer of the presence of petaelectronvolt protons within the central 10 parsecs of the Galaxy. We propose that the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* is linked to this PeVatron. Sagittarius A* went through active phases in the past, as demonstrated by X-ray outburstsand an outflow from the Galactic Centre. Although its current rate of particle acceleration is not sufficient to provide a substantial contribution to Galactic cosmic rays, Sagittarius A* could have plausibly been more active over the last 106-107 years, and therefore should be considered as a viable alternative to supernova remnants as a source of petaelectronvolt Galactic cosmic rays.

Recent effectiveness of proton pump inhibitors for severe reflux esophagitis: the first multicenter prospective study in Japan.

PubMed

Mizuno, Hideki; Matsuhashi, Nobuyuki; Sakaguchi, Masahiro; Inoue, Syuji; Nakada, Koji; Higuchi, Kazuhide; Haruma, Ken; Joh, Takashi

2015-11-01

Proton pump inhibitors are the first-line treatment for reflux esophagitis. Because severe reflux esophagitis has very low prevalence in Japan, little is known about the effectiveness of proton pump inhibitors in these patients. This prospective multicenter study assessed the effectiveness of proton pump inhibitors for severe reflux esophagitis in Japan. Patients with modified Los Angeles grade C or D reflux esophagitis were treated with daily omeprazole (10 or 20 mg), lansoprazole (15 or 30 mg), or rabeprazole (10, 20, or 40 mg) for 8 weeks. Healing was assessed endoscopically, with questionnaires administered before and after treatment to measure the extent of reflux and dyspepsia symptoms. Factors affecting healing rates, including patient characteristics and endoscopic findings, were analyzed. Of the 115 patients enrolled, 64 with grade C and 19 with grade D reflux esophagitis completed the study. The healing rate was 67.5% (56/83), with 15 of the other 27 patients (55.6%) improving to grade A or B. No patient characteristic or endoscopic comorbidity was significantly associated with healing rate. Reflux and dyspepsia symptoms improved significantly with treatment. The low healing rate suggests the need of endoscopic examination to assess healing of reflux esophagitis at the end of therapy. (UMIN000005271).

Heavy Ion Acceleration at J-PARC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

SATO, Susumu

2018-02-01

J-PARC, the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex, is an accelerator, which provides a high-intensity proton beam. Recently as a very attractive project, the acceleration of heavy ions produced by supplementary ion sources, called J-PARC-HI, is seriously contemplated by domestic as well as international communities. The planned facility would accelerate heavy ions up to U92+ with a beam energy 20 AGeV ( of 6.2 AGeV). The highlight of the J-PARC-HI project is its very high beam rate up to 1011 Hz, which will enable the study of very rare events. Taking advantage of this high intensity, J-PARC-HI will carry out frontier studies of new and rare observables in this energy region: (i) nuclear medium modification of chiral property of vector mesons through low-mass di-lepton signal, (ii) QCD critical pointcharacterization through event-by-event fluctuation signals of particle production, (iii) systematic measurements related to the equation of state through collective flow signal or two-particle momentum correlation signal, or (iv) the search of hyper nuclei with multi strangeness including or exceeding S = 3. The current plan of J-PARC-HI aims to carrying out the first experimental measurements in 2025.

First demonstration of multi-MeV proton acceleration from a cryogenic hydrogen ribbon target

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kraft, Stephan; Obst, Lieselotte; Metzkes-Ng, Josefine

We show efficient laser driven proton acceleration up to 14 MeV from a 50 μm thick cryogenic hydrogen ribbon. Pulses of the short pulse laser ELFIE at LULI with a pulse length of ≈ 350 fs at an energy of 8 J per pulse are directed onto the target. The results were then compared to proton spectra from metal and plastic foils with different thicknesses and show a similar good performance both in maximum energy as well as in proton number. Thus, this target type is a promising candidate for experiments with high repetition rate laser systems.

First demonstration of multi-MeV proton acceleration from a cryogenic hydrogen ribbon target

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kraft, Stephan D.; Obst, Lieselotte; Metzkes-Ng, Josefine; Schlenvoigt, Hans-Peter; Zeil, Karl; Michaux, Sylvain; Chatain, Denis; Perin, Jean-Paul; Chen, Sophia N.; Fuchs, Julien; Gauthier, Maxence; Cowan, Thomas E.; Schramm, Ulrich

2018-04-01

We show efficient laser driven proton acceleration up to 14 MeV from a 62 μm thick cryogenic hydrogen ribbon. Pulses of the short pulse laser ELFIE at LULI with a pulse length of ≈350 fs at an energy of 8 J per pulse are directed onto the target. The results are compared to proton spectra from metal and plastic foils with different thicknesses and show a similarly good performance both in maximum energy as well as in proton number. Thus, this target type is a promising candidate for experiments with high repetition rate laser systems.

First demonstration of multi-MeV proton acceleration from a cryogenic hydrogen ribbon target

DOE PAGES

Kraft, Stephan; Obst, Lieselotte; Metzkes-Ng, Josefine; ...

2018-02-09

We show efficient laser driven proton acceleration up to 14 MeV from a 50 μm thick cryogenic hydrogen ribbon. Pulses of the short pulse laser ELFIE at LULI with a pulse length of ≈ 350 fs at an energy of 8 J per pulse are directed onto the target. The results were then compared to proton spectra from metal and plastic foils with different thicknesses and show a similar good performance both in maximum energy as well as in proton number. Thus, this target type is a promising candidate for experiments with high repetition rate laser systems.

Efficient proton acceleration and focusing by an ultraintense laser interacting with a parabolic double concave target with an extended rear

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bake, Muhammad Ali; Xie, Bai-Song; Aimidula, Aimierding; Wang, Hong-Yu

2013-07-01

A new scheme for acceleration and focusing of protons via an improved parabolic double concave target irradiated by an ultraintense laser pulse is proposed. When an intense laser pulse illuminates a concave target, the hot electrons are concentrated on the focal region of the rear cavity and they form a strong space-charge-separation field, which accelerates the protons. For a simple concave target, the proton energy spectrum becomes very broad outside the rear cavity because of transverse divergence of the electromagnetic fields. However, particle-in-cell simulations show that, when the concave target has an extended rear, the hot electrons along the wall surface induce a transverse focusing sheath field, resulting in a clear enhancement of proton focusing, which makes the lower proton energy spread, while, leads to a little reduction of the proton bunch peak energy.

First experimental results from 2 MeV proton tandem accelerator for neutron production.

PubMed

Kudryavtsev, A; Belchenko, Yu; Burdakov, A; Davydenko, V; Ivanov, A; Khilchenko, A; Konstantinov, S; Krivenko, A; Kuznetsov, A; Mekler, K; Sanin, A; Shirokov, V; Sorokin, I; Sulyaev, Yu; Tiunov, M

2008-02-01

A 2 MeV proton tandem accelerator with vacuum insulation was developed and first experiments are carried out in the Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics (Novosibirsk). The accelerator is designed for neutron production via reaction (7)Li(p,n)(7)Be for the boron neutron-capture therapy of the brain tumors, and for explosive detection based on 9.1724 MeV resonance gamma, which are produced via reaction (13)C(p,gamma)(14)N, absorption in nitrogen.

Proton Injection into the Fermilab Integrable Optics Test Accelerator (IOTA)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Prebys, Eric; Antipov, Sergey; Piekarz, Henryk

The Integrable Optics Test Accelerator (IOTA) is an experimental synchrotron being built at Fermilab to test the concept of non-linear "integrable optics". These optics are based on a lattice including non-linear elements that satisfies particular conditions on the Hamiltonian. The resulting particle motion is predicted to be stable but without a unique tune. The system is therefore insensitive to resonant instabilities and can in principle store very intense beams, with space charge tune shifts larger than those which are possible in conventional linear synchrotrons. The ring will initially be tested with pencil electron beams, but this poster describes the ultimatemore » plan to install a 2.5 MeV RFQ to inject protons, which will produce tune shifts on the order of unity. Technical details will be presented, as well as simulations of protons in the ring.« less

Micron-size hydrogen cluster target for laser-driven proton acceleration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jinno, S.; Kanasaki, M.; Uno, M.; Matsui, R.; Uesaka, M.; Kishimoto, Y.; Fukuda, Y.

2018-04-01

As a new laser-driven ion acceleration technique, we proposed a way to produce impurity-free, highly reproducible, and robust proton beams exceeding 100 MeV using a Coulomb explosion of micron-size hydrogen clusters. In this study, micron-size hydrogen clusters were generated by expanding the cooled high-pressure hydrogen gas into a vacuum via a conical nozzle connected to a solenoid valve cooled by a mechanical cryostat. The size distributions of the hydrogen clusters were evaluated by measuring the angular distribution of laser light scattered from the clusters. The data were analyzed mathematically based on the Mie scattering theory combined with the Tikhonov regularization method. The maximum size of the hydrogen cluster at 25 K and 6 MPa in the stagnation state was recognized to be 2.15 ± 0.10 μm. The mean cluster size decreased with increasing temperature, and was found to be much larger than that given by Hagena’s formula. This discrepancy suggests that the micron-size hydrogen clusters were formed by the atomization (spallation) of the liquid or supercritical fluid phase of hydrogen. In addition, the density profiles of the gas phase were evaluated for 25 to 80 K at 6 MPa using a Nomarski interferometer. Based on the measurement results and the equation of state for hydrogen, the cluster mass fraction was obtained. 3D particles-in-cell (PIC) simulations concerning the interaction processes of micron-size hydrogen clusters with high power laser pulses predicted the generation of protons exceeding 100 MeV and accelerating in a laser propagation direction via an anisotropic Coulomb explosion mechanism, thus demonstrating a future candidate in laser-driven proton sources for upcoming multi-petawatt lasers.

Chromatic energy filter and characterization of laser-accelerated proton beams for particle therapy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hofmann, Ingo; Meyer-ter-Vehn, Jürgen; Yan, Xueqing; Al-Omari, Husam

2012-07-01

The application of laser accelerated protons or ions for particle therapy has to cope with relatively large energy and angular spreads as well as possibly significant random fluctuations. We suggest a method for combined focusing and energy selection, which is an effective alternative to the commonly considered dispersive energy selection by magnetic dipoles. Our method is based on the chromatic effect of a magnetic solenoid (or any other energy dependent focusing device) in combination with an aperture to select a certain energy width defined by the aperture radius. It is applied to an initial 6D phase space distribution of protons following the simulation output from a Radiation Pressure Acceleration model. Analytical formula for the selection aperture and chromatic emittance are confirmed by simulation results using the TRACEWIN code. The energy selection is supported by properly placed scattering targets to remove the imprint of the chromatic effect on the beam and to enable well-controlled and shot-to-shot reproducible energy and transverse density profiles.

Shock wave acceleration of protons in inhomogeneous plasma interacting with ultrashort intense laser pulses

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lecz, Zs.; Andreev, A.; Max-Born Institute, Berlin

The acceleration of protons, triggered by solitary waves in expanded solid targets is investigated using particle-in-cell simulations. The near-critical density plasma is irradiated by ultrashort high power laser pulses, which generate the solitary wave. The transformation of this soliton into a shock wave during propagation in plasma with exponentially decreasing density profile is described analytically, which allows to obtain a scaling law for the proton energy. The high quality proton bunch with small energy spread is produced by reflection from the shock-front. According to the 2D simulations, the mechanism is stable only if the laser pulse duration is shorter thanmore » the characteristic development time of the parasitic Weibel instability.« less

Laser-driven proton and deuteron acceleration from a pure solid-density H2/D2 cryogenic jet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Jongjin; Gauthier, Maxence; Aurand, Bastian; Curry, Chandra; Goede, Sebastian; Goyon, Clement; Williams, Jackson; Kerr, Shaun; Ruby, John; Propp, Adrienne; Ramakrishna, Bhuvanesh; Pak, Art; Hazi, Andy; Glenzer, Siegfried; Roedel, Christian

2015-11-01

Laser-driven proton acceleration has become of tremendous interest for the fundamental science and the potential applications in tumor therapy and proton radiography. We have developed a cryogenic liquid hydrogen jet, which can deliver a self-replenishing target of pure solid-density hydrogen or deuterium. This allows for a target compatible with high-repetition-rate experiments and results in a pure hydrogen plasma, facilitating comparison with simulations. A new modification has allowed for the formation of jets with rectangular profiles, facilitating comparison with foil targets. This jet was installed at the Titan laser and driven by laser pulses of 40-60 J of 527 nm laser light in 1 ps. The resulting proton and deuteron spectra were measured in multiple directions with Thomson parabola spectrometers and RCF stacks. The spectral and angular information suggest contribution from both the TNSA and RPA acceleration mechanisms.

Proton and Ion Acceleration on the Contrast Upgraded Texas Petawatt Laser

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McCary, Edward; Roycroft, Rebecca; Jiao, Xuejing; Kupfer, Rotem; Tiwari, Ganesh; Wagner, Craig; Yandow, Andrew; Franke, Philip; Dyer, Gilliss; Gaul, Erhard; Toncian, Toma; Ditmire, Todd; Hegelich, Bjorn; CenterHigh Energy Density Science Team

2016-10-01

Recent upgrades to the Texas Petawatt (TPW) laser system have eliminated pre-pulses and reduced the laser pedestal, resulting in improved laser contrast. Previously unwanted pre-pulses and amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) would ionize targets thinner than 1 micron, leaving an under-dense plasma which was not capable of accelerating ions to high energies. After the upgrade the contrast was drastically improved allowing us to successfully shoot targets as thin as 20 nm without plasma mirrors. We have also observed evidence of relativistic transparency and Break-Out Afterburner (BOA) ion acceleration when shooting ultra-thin, nanometer scale targets. Data taken with a wide angle ion spectrometer (IWASP) showed the characteristic asymmetry of BOA in the plane orthogonal to the laser polarization on thin targets but not on micron scale targets. Thick micron scale targets saw improvement as well; shots on 2 μm thick gold targets saw ions with energies up to 100 MeV, which broke the former record proton energy on the TPW. Switching the focusing optic from an f/3 parabolic mirror to an f/40 spherical mirror showed improvement in the number of low energy protons created, and provided a source for hundreds of picosecond heating of aluminum foils for warm dense matter measurements.

Neutron yield and induced radioactivity: a study of 235-MeV proton and 3-GeV electron accelerators.

PubMed

Hsu, Yung-Cheng; Lai, Bo-Lun; Sheu, Rong-Jiun

2016-01-01

This study evaluated the magnitude of potential neutron yield and induced radioactivity of two new accelerators in Taiwan: a 235-MeV proton cyclotron for radiation therapy and a 3-GeV electron synchrotron serving as the injector for the Taiwan Photon Source. From a nuclear interaction point of view, neutron production from targets bombarded with high-energy particles is intrinsically related to the resulting target activation. Two multi-particle interaction and transport codes, FLUKA and MCNPX, were used in this study. To ensure prediction quality, much effort was devoted to the associated benchmark calculations. Comparisons of the accelerators' results for three target materials (copper, stainless steel and tissue) are presented. Although the proton-induced neutron yields were higher than those induced by electrons, the maximal neutron production rates of both accelerators were comparable according to their respective beam outputs during typical operation. Activation products in the targets of the two accelerators were unexpectedly similar because the primary reaction channels for proton- and electron-induced activation are (p,pn) and (γ,n), respectively. The resulting residual activities and remnant dose rates as a function of time were examined and discussed. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Proton-Proton and Proton-Antiproton Colliders

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scandale, Walter

In the last five decades, proton-proton and proton-antiproton colliders have been the most powerful tools for high energy physics investigations. They have also deeply catalyzed innovation in accelerator physics and technology. Among the large number of proposed colliders, only four have really succeeded in becoming operational: the ISR, the SppbarS, the Tevatron and the LHC. Another hadron collider, RHIC, originally conceived for ion-ion collisions, has also been operated part-time with polarized protons. Although a vast literature documenting them is available, this paper is intended to provide a quick synthesis of their main features and key performance.

Proton-Proton and Proton-Antiproton Colliders

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scandale, Walter

2014-04-01

In the last five decades, proton-proton and proton-antiproton colliders have been the most powerful tools for high energy physics investigations. They have also deeply catalyzed innovation in accelerator physics and technology. Among the large number of proposed colliders, only four have really succeeded in becoming operational: the ISR, the SppbarS, the Tevatron and the LHC. Another hadron collider, RHIC, originally conceived for ion-ion collisions, has also been operated part-time with polarized protons. Although a vast literature documenting them is available, this paper is intended to provide a quick synthesis of their main features and key performance.

Proton-Proton and Proton-Antiproton Colliders

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scandale, Walter

2015-02-01

In the last five decades, proton-proton and proton-antiproton colliders have been the most powerful tools for high energy physics investigations. They have also deeply catalyzed innovation in accelerator physics and technology. Among the large number of proposed colliders, only four have really succeeded in becoming operational: the ISR, the SppbarS, the Tevatron and the LHC. Another hadron collider, RHIC, originally conceived for ion-ion collisions, has also been operated part-time with polarized protons. Although a vast literature documenting them is available, this paper is intended to provide a quick synthesis of their main features and key performance.

On the possibility for precision measurements of differential cross sections for elastic proton–proton scattering at the Protvino accelerator

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Denisov, S. P., E-mail: denisov@ihep.ru; Kozelov, A. V.; Petrov, V. A.

Elastic-scattering data were analyzed, and it was concluded on the basis of this analysis that precisionmeasurements of differential cross sections for elastic proton–proton scattering at the accelerator of the Institute for High Energy Physics (IHEP, Protvino, Russia) over a broad momentum-transfer range are of importance and topical interest. The layout of the respective experimental facility detecting the scattered particle and recoil proton and possessing a high momentum-transfer resolution was examined along with the equipment constituting this facility. The facility in question is able to record up to a billion events of elastic proton–proton scattering per IHEP accelerator run (20 days).more » Other lines of physics research with this facility are briefly discussed.« less

A light-weight compact proton gantry design with a novel dose delivery system for broad-energetic laser-accelerated beams

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Masood, U.; Cowan, T. E.; Enghardt, W.; Hofmann, K. M.; Karsch, L.; Kroll, F.; Schramm, U.; Wilkens, J. J.; Pawelke, J.

2017-07-01

Proton beams may provide superior dose-conformity in radiation therapy. However, the large sizes and costs limit the widespread use of proton therapy (PT). The recent progress in proton acceleration via high-power laser systems has made it a compelling alternative to conventional accelerators, as it could potentially reduce the overall size and cost of the PT facilities. However, the laser-accelerated beams exhibit different characteristics than conventionally accelerated beams, i.e. very intense proton bunches with large divergences and broad-energy spectra. For the application of laser-driven beams in PT, new solutions for beam transport, such as beam capture, integrated energy selection, beam shaping and delivery systems are required due to the specific beam parameters. The generation of these beams are limited by the low repetition rate of high-power lasers and this limitation would require alternative solutions for tumour irradiation which can efficiently utilize the available high proton fluence and broad-energy spectra per proton bunch to keep treatment times short. This demands new dose delivery system and irradiation field formation schemes. In this paper, we present a multi-functional light-weight and compact proton gantry design for laser-driven sources based on iron-less pulsed high-field magnets. This achromatic design includes improved beam capturing and energy selection systems, with a novel beam shaping and dose delivery system, so-called ELPIS. ELPIS system utilizes magnetic fields, instead of physical scatterers, for broadening the spot-size of broad-energetic beams while capable of simultaneously scanning them in lateral directions. To investigate the clinical feasibility of this gantry design, we conducted a treatment planning study with a 3D treatment planning system augmented for the pulsed beams with optimizable broad-energetic widths and selectable beam spot sizes. High quality treatment plans could be achieved with such unconventional beam

A light-weight compact proton gantry design with a novel dose delivery system for broad-energetic laser-accelerated beams.

PubMed

Masood, U; Cowan, T E; Enghardt, W; Hofmann, K M; Karsch, L; Kroll, F; Schramm, U; Wilkens, J J; Pawelke, J

2017-07-07

Proton beams may provide superior dose-conformity in radiation therapy. However, the large sizes and costs limit the widespread use of proton therapy (PT). The recent progress in proton acceleration via high-power laser systems has made it a compelling alternative to conventional accelerators, as it could potentially reduce the overall size and cost of the PT facilities. However, the laser-accelerated beams exhibit different characteristics than conventionally accelerated beams, i.e. very intense proton bunches with large divergences and broad-energy spectra. For the application of laser-driven beams in PT, new solutions for beam transport, such as beam capture, integrated energy selection, beam shaping and delivery systems are required due to the specific beam parameters. The generation of these beams are limited by the low repetition rate of high-power lasers and this limitation would require alternative solutions for tumour irradiation which can efficiently utilize the available high proton fluence and broad-energy spectra per proton bunch to keep treatment times short. This demands new dose delivery system and irradiation field formation schemes. In this paper, we present a multi-functional light-weight and compact proton gantry design for laser-driven sources based on iron-less pulsed high-field magnets. This achromatic design includes improved beam capturing and energy selection systems, with a novel beam shaping and dose delivery system, so-called ELPIS. ELPIS system utilizes magnetic fields, instead of physical scatterers, for broadening the spot-size of broad-energetic beams while capable of simultaneously scanning them in lateral directions. To investigate the clinical feasibility of this gantry design, we conducted a treatment planning study with a 3D treatment planning system augmented for the pulsed beams with optimizable broad-energetic widths and selectable beam spot sizes. High quality treatment plans could be achieved with such unconventional beam

Enhanced proton acceleration from an ultrathin target irradiated by laser pulses with plateau ASE.

PubMed

Wang, Dahui; Shou, Yinren; Wang, Pengjie; Liu, Jianbo; Li, Chengcai; Gong, Zheng; Hu, Ronghao; Ma, Wenjun; Yan, Xueqing

2018-02-07

We report a simulation study on proton acceleration driven by ultraintense laser pulses with normal contrast (10 7 -10 9 ) containing nanosecond plateau amplified spontaneous emission (ASE). It's found in hydrodynamic simulations that if the thickness of the targets lies in the range of hundreds nanometer matching the intensity and duration of ASE, the ablation pressure would push the whole target in the forward direction with speed exceeding the expansion velocity of plasma, resulting in a plasma density profile with a long extension at the target front and a sharp gradient at the target rear. When the main pulse irradiates the plasma, self-focusing happens at the target front, producing highly energetic electrons through direct laser acceleration(DLA) building the sheath field. The sharp plasma gradient at target rear ensures a strong sheath field. 2D particle-in-cell(PIC) simulations reveal that the proton energy can be enhanced by a factor of 2 compared to the case of using micrometer-thick targets.

Experimental studies with two novel silicon detectors for the development of time-of-flight spectrometry of laser-accelerated proton beams

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Würl, M.; Reinhardt, S.; Rosenfeld, A.; Petasecca, M.; Lerch, M.; Tran, L.; Karsch, S.; Assmann, W.; Schreiber, J.; Parodi, K.

2017-01-01

Laser-accelerated proton beams exhibit remarkably different beam characteristics as compared to conventionally accelerated ion beams. About 105 to 107 particles per MeV and msr are accelerated quasi-instantaneously within about 1 ps. The resulting energy spectrum typically shows an exponentially decaying distribution. Our planned approach to determine the energy spectrum of the particles generated in each pulse is to exploit the time-of-flight (TOF) difference of protons with different kinetic energies at 1 m distance from the laser-target interaction. This requires fast and sensitive detectors. We therefore tested two prototype silicon detectors, developed at the Centre for Medical Radiation Physics at the University of Wollongong with a current amplifier, regarding their suitability for TOF-spectrometry in terms of sensitivity and timing properties. For the latter, we illuminated the detectors with short laser pulses, measured the signal current and compared it to the signal of a fast photodiode. The comparison revealed that the timing properties of both prototypes are not yet sufficient for our purpose. In contrast, our results regarding the detectors’ sensitivity are promising. The lowest detectable proton flux at 10 MeV was found to be 25 protons per ns on the detector. With this sensitivity and with a smaller pixelation of the detectors, the timing properties can be improved for new prototypes, making them potential candidates for TOF-spectrometry of laser-accelerated particle beams.

EBT-XD Radiochromic Film Sensitivity Calibrations Using Proton Beams from a Pelletron Accelerator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stockler, Barak; Grun, Alexander; Brown, Gunnar; Klein, Matthew; Wood, Jacob; Cooper, Anthony; Ward, Ryan; Freeman, Charlie; Padalino, Stephen; Regan, S. P.; Sangster, T. C.

2017-10-01

Radiochromic film (RCF) is a transparent detector film that permanently changes color following exposure to ionizing radiation. RCF is used frequently in medical applications, but also has been used in a variety of high energy density physics diagnostics. RCF is convenient to use because it requires no chemical processing and can be scanned using commercially available document scanners. In this study, the sensitivity of Gafchromic™ EBT-XD RCF to protons and x-rays was measured. Proton beams produced by the SUNY Geneseo Pelletron accelerator were directed into an evacuated target chamber where they scattered off a thin gold foil. The scattered protons were incident on a sample of RCF which subtended a range of angles around the scattering center. A new analysis method, which relies on the variation in scattered proton fluence as a function of scattering angle in accordance with the Rutherford scattering law, is currently being developed to speed up the proton calibrations. Samples of RCF were also exposed to x-ray radiation using an X-RAD 160 x-ray irradiator, allowing the sensitivity of RCF to X-rays to be measured. This work was funded in part by a Grant from the DOE through the Laboratory for Laser Energetics as well as the NSF.

Acceleration of protons to above 6 MeV using H2O "snow" nanowire targets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pomerantz, I.; Schleifer, E.; Nahum, E.; Eisenmann, S.; Botton, M.; Gordon, D.; Sprangel, P.; Zigler, A.

2012-07-01

A scheme is presented for using H2O "snow" nanowire targets for the generation of fast protons. This novel method may relax the requirements for very high laser intensities, thus reducing the size and cost of laser based ion acceleration system.

Search by mariner 10 for electrons and protons accelerated in association with venus.

PubMed

Simpson, J A; Eraker, J H; Lamport, J E; Walpole, P H

1974-03-29

The University of Chicago instrumnents on board the Mariner 10 spacecraft bound for Mercury have measured energy spectra and fluxes of electrons from 0.18 to 30 million electron volts and protons from 0.5 to 68 million electron volts along the plasma wake and in the bow shock regions associated with Venus. Unusually quiet solar conditions and improved instrumentation made it possible to search for much lower fluxes of protons and electrons in similar energy regions as compared to earlier Mariner missions to Venus-that is, lower by a factor of 10(2) for protons and 10(3) for electrons. We found no evidence for electrons or protons either in the form of increases of intensity or energy spectral changes in the vicinity of the planet, nor any evidence of bursts of radiation in or near the observed bow shock where bursts of electrons might have been expected in analogy with the bow shock at the earth. The importance of these null results for determining the necessary and sufficient conditions for particle acceleration is discussed with respect to magnetometer evidence that Venus does not have a magnetosphere.

Proton acceleration to above 5.5 MeV by interaction of 1017 W/cm2 laser pulse with H2O nano-wire targets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schleifer, E.; Bruner, N.; Eisenmann, S.; Botton, M.; Pikuz, S. A., Jr.; Faenov, A. Y.; Gordon, D.; Zigler, A.

2011-05-01

Compact sources of high energy protons (50-500MeV) are expected to be key technology in a wide range of scientific applications 1-8. Particularly promising is the target normal sheah acceleration (TNSA) scheme 9,10, holding record level of 67MeV protons generated by a peta-Watt laser 11. In general, laser intensity exceeding 1018 W/cm2 is required to produce MeV level protons. Enhancing the energy of generated protons using compact laser sources is very attractive task nowadays. Recently, nano-scale targets were used to accelerate ions 12,13. Here we report on the first generation of 5.5-7.5MeV protons by modest laser intensities (4.5 × 1017 W/cm2) interacting with H2O nano-wires (snow) deposited on a Sapphire substrate. In this setup, the plasma near the tip of the nano-wire is subject to locally enhanced laser intensity with high spatial gradients, and confined charge separation is obtained. Electrostatic fields of extremely high intensities are produced, and protons are accelerated to MeV-level energies. Nano-wire engineered targets will relax the demand of peak energy from laser based sources.

Defocusing beam line design for an irradiation facility at the TAEA SANAEM Proton Accelerator Facility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gencer, A.; Demirköz, B.; Efthymiopoulos, I.; Yiğitoğlu, M.

2016-07-01

Electronic components must be tested to ensure reliable performance in high radiation environments such as Hi-Limu LHC and space. We propose a defocusing beam line to perform proton irradiation tests in Turkey. The Turkish Atomic Energy Authority SANAEM Proton Accelerator Facility was inaugurated in May 2012 for radioisotope production. The facility has also an R&D room for research purposes. The accelerator produces protons with 30 MeV kinetic energy and the beam current is variable between 10 μA and 1.2 mA. The beam kinetic energy is suitable for irradiation tests, however the beam current is high and therefore the flux must be lowered. We plan to build a defocusing beam line (DBL) in order to enlarge the beam size, reduce the flux to match the required specifications for the irradiation tests. Current design includes the beam transport and the final focusing magnets to blow up the beam. Scattering foils and a collimator is placed for the reduction of the beam flux. The DBL is designed to provide fluxes between 107 p /cm2 / s and 109 p /cm2 / s for performing irradiation tests in an area of 15.4 cm × 21.5 cm. The facility will be the first irradiation facility of its kind in Turkey.

Generating high-current monoenergetic proton beams by a circularly polarized laser pulse in the phase-stable acceleration regime.

PubMed

Yan, X Q; Lin, C; Sheng, Z M; Guo, Z Y; Liu, B C; Lu, Y R; Fang, J X; Chen, J E

2008-04-04

A new ion acceleration method, namely, phase-stable acceleration, using circularly-polarized laser pulses is proposed. When the initial target density n(0) and thickness D satisfy a(L) approximately (n(0)/n(c))D/lambda(L) and D>l(s) with a(L), lambda(L), l(s), and n(c) the normalized laser amplitude, the laser wavelength in vacuum, the plasma skin depth, and the critical density of the incident laser pulse, respectively, a quasiequilibrium for the electrons is established by the light pressure and the space charge electrostatic field at the interacting front of the laser pulse. The ions within the skin depth of the laser pulse are synchronously accelerated and bunched by the electrostatic field, and thereby a high-intensity monoenergetic proton beam can be generated. The proton dynamics is investigated analytically and the results are verified by one- and two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations.

Preliminary consideration of a double, 480 GeV, fast cycling proton accelerator for production of neutrino beams at Fermilab

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Piekarz, Henryk; Hays, Steven; /Fermilab

We propose to build the DSF-MR (Double Super-Ferric Main Ring), 480 GeV, fast-cycling (2 second repetition rate) two-beam proton accelerator in the Main Ring tunnel of Fermilab. This accelerator design is based on the super-ferric magnet technology developed for the VLHC, and extended recently to the proposed LER injector for the LHC and fast cycling SF-SPS at CERN. The DSF-MR accelerator system will constitute the final stage of the proton source enabling production of two neutrino beams separated by 2 second time period. These beams will be sent alternately to two detectors located at {approx} 3000 km and {approx} 7500more » km away from Fermilab. It is expected that combination of the results from these experiments will offer more than 3 order of magnitudes increased sensitivity for detection and measurement of neutrino oscillations with respect to expectations in any current experiment, and thus may truly enable opening the window into the physics beyond the Standard Model. We examine potential sites for the long baseline neutrino detectors accepting beams from Fermilab. The current injection system consisting of 400 MeV Linac, 8 GeV Booster and the Main Injector can be used to accelerate protons to 45 GeV before transferring them to the DSF-MR. The implementation of the DSF-MR will allow for an 8-fold increase in beam power on the neutrino production target. In this note we outline the proposed new arrangement of the Fermilab accelerator complex. We also briefly describe the DSF-MR magnet design and its power supply, and discuss necessary upgrade of the Tevatron RF system for the use with the DSF-MR accelerator. Finally, we outline the required R&D, cost estimate and possible timeline for the implementation of the DSF-MR accelerator.« less

A high brightness proton injector for the Tandetron accelerator at Jožef Stefan Institute

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pelicon, Primož; Podaru, Nicolae C.; Vavpetič, Primož; Jeromel, Luka; Ogrinc Potocnik, Nina; Ondračka, Simon; Gottdang, Andreas; Mous, Dirk J. M.

2014-08-01

Jožef Stefan Institute recently commissioned a high brightness H- ion beam injection system for its existing tandem accelerator facility. Custom developed by High Voltage Engineering Europa, the multicusp ion source has been tuned to deliver at the entrance of the Tandetron™ accelerator H- ion beams with a measured brightness of 17.1 A m-2 rad-2 eV-1 at 170 μA, equivalent to an energy normalized beam emittance of 0.767 π mm mrad MeV1/2. Upgrading the accelerator facility with the new injection system provides two main advantages. First, the high brightness of the new ion source enables the reduction of object slit aperture and the reduction of acceptance angle at the nuclear microprobe, resulting in a reduced beam size at selected beam intensity, which significantly improves the probe resolution for micro-PIXE applications. Secondly, the upgrade strongly enhances the accelerator up-time since H and He beams are produced by independent ion sources, introducing a constant availability of 3He beam for fusion-related research with NRA. The ion beam particle losses and ion beam emittance growth imply that the aforementioned beam brightness is reduced by transport through the ion optical system. To obtain quantitative information on the available brightness at the high-energy side of the accelerator, the proton beam brightness is determined in the nuclear microprobe beamline. Based on the experience obtained during the first months of operation for micro-PIXE applications, further necessary steps are indicated to obtain optimal coupling of the new ion source with the accelerator to increase the normalized high-energy proton beam brightness at the JSI microprobe, currently at 14 A m-2 rad-2 eV-1, with the output current at 18% of its available maximum.

The progress about measurements of the proton beam characteristics of the JUNA 400 kV accelerator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Shuo; Li, Kuoang

2018-04-01

China JinPing underground Laboratory (CJPL) was established inside the tunnels piercing Jinping Mountain in Sichuan Province, China, which can provide an ideal environment for low background experiment. Jinping Underground laboratory for Nuclear Astrophysics (JUNA) is one of the major research programs in CJPL. A new 400 kV accelerator, with high current based on an ECR source, will be installed into CJPL for the study of key nuclear reactions in astrophysics. The beam characteristics of the accelerator, like absolute energy, energy spread, and long-term energy stability, will be determined by several well-known resonance and non-resonance reactions. Due to the new accelerator still being under construction, the resonance reaction of 27Al(p, γ)28Si and non-resonance 12C(p, γ)13N were studied at the 320 kV high-voltage platform of Institute of Modern Physics in Lanzhou, China. The energy spread of proton beam is about 1.0 keV and the long-term energy stability of proton beam is better than ±200eV during 4 hours measurement.

Comparing Solar-Flare Acceleration of >-20 MeV Protons and Electrons Above Various Energies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shih, Albert Y.

2010-01-01

A large fraction (up to tens of percent) of the energy released in solar flares goes into accelerated ions and electrons, and studies indicate that these two populations have comparable energy content. RHESSI observations have shown a striking close linear correlation between the 2.223 MeV neutron-capture gamma-ray line and electron bremsstrahlung emission >300 keV, indicating that the flare acceleration of >^20 MeV protons and >300 keV electrons is roughly proportional over >3 orders of magnitude in fluence. We show that the correlations of neutron-capture line fluence with GOES class or with bremsstrahlung emission at lower energies show deviations from proportionality, primarily for flares with lower fluences. From analyzing thirteen flares, we demonstrate that there appear to be two classes of flares with high-energy acceleration: flares that exhibit only proportional acceleration of ions and electrons down to 50 keV and flares that have an additional soft, low-energy bremsstrahlung component, suggesting two separate populations of accelerated electrons. We use RHESSI spectroscopy and imaging to investigate a number of these flares in detail.

Laser Radiation Pressure Acceleration of Monoenergetic Protons in an Ultra-Thin Foil

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eliasson, Bengt; Liu, Chuan S.; Shao, Xi; Sagdeev, Roald Z.; Shukla, Padma K.

2009-11-01

We present theoretical and numerical studies of the acceleration of monoenergetic protons in a double layer formed by the laser irradiation of an ultra-thin film. The stability of the foil is investigated by direct Vlasov-Maxwell simulations for different sets of laser-plasma parameters. It is found that the foil is stable, due to the trapping of both electrons and ions in the thin laser-plasma interaction region, where the electrons are trapped in a potential well composed of the ponderomo-tive potential of the laser light and the electrostatic potential due to the ions, and the ions are trapped in a potential well composed of the inertial potential in an accelerated frame and the electrostatic potential due to the electrons. The result is a stable double layer, where the trapped ions are accelerated to monoenergetic energies up to 100 MeV and beyond, which makes them suitable for medical applications cancer treatment. The underlying physics of trapped and untapped ions in a double layer is also investigated theoretically and numerically.

Proton beam spatial distribution and Bragg peak imaging by photoluminescence of color centers in lithium fluoride crystals at the TOP-IMPLART linear accelerator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Piccinini, M.; Ronsivalle, C.; Ampollini, A.; Bazzano, G.; Picardi, L.; Nenzi, P.; Trinca, E.; Vadrucci, M.; Bonfigli, F.; Nichelatti, E.; Vincenti, M. A.; Montereali, R. M.

2017-11-01

Solid-state radiation detectors based on the photoluminescence of stable point defects in lithium fluoride crystals have been used for advanced diagnostics during the commissioning of the segment up to 27 MeV of the TOP-IMPLART proton linear accelerator for proton therapy applications, under development at ENEA C.R. Frascati, Italy. The LiF detectors high intrinsic spatial resolution and wide dynamic range allow obtaining two-dimensional images of the beam transverse intensity distribution and also identifying the Bragg peak position with micrometric precision by using a conventional optical fluorescence microscope. Results of the proton beam characterization, among which, the estimation of beam energy components and dynamics, are reported and discussed for different operating conditions of the accelerator.

Multiphysics Analysis of Frequency Detuning in Superconducting RF Cavities for Proton Particle Accelerators

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Awida, M. H.; Gonin, I.; Passarelli, D.

2016-01-22

Multiphysics analyses for superconducting cavities are essential in the course of cavity design to meet stringent requirements on cavity frequency detuning. Superconducting RF cavities are the core accelerating elements in modern particle accelerators whether it is proton or electron machine, as they offer extremely high quality factors thus reducing the RF losses per cavity. However, the superior quality factor comes with the challenge of controlling the resonance frequency of the cavity within few tens of hertz bandwidth. In this paper, we investigate how the multiphysics analysis plays a major role in proactively minimizing sources of frequency detuning, specifically; microphonics andmore » Lorentz Force Detuning (LFD) in the stage of RF design of the cavity and mechanical design of the niobium shell and the helium vessel.« less

Status of intense permanent magnet proton source for China-accelerator driven sub-critical system Linac.

PubMed

Wu, Q; Ma, H Y; Yang, Y; Sun, L T; Zhang, X Z; Zhang, Z M; Zhao, H Y; He, Y; Zhao, H W

2016-02-01

Two compact intense 2.45 GHz permanent magnet proton sources and their corresponding low energy beam transport (LEBT) system were developed successfully for China accelerator driven sub-critical system in 2014. Both the proton sources operate at 35 kV potential. The beams extracted from the ion source are transported by the LEBT, which is composed of two identical solenoids, to the 2.1 MeV Radio-Frequency Quadrupole (RFQ). In order to ensure the safety of the superconducting cavities during commissioning, an electrostatic-chopper has been designed and installed in the LEBT line that can chop the continuous wave beam into a pulsed one. The minimum width of the pulse is less than 10 μs and the fall/rise time of the chopper is about 20 ns. The performance of the proton source and the LEBT, such as beam current, beam profile, emittance and the impact to RFQ injection will be presented.

Status of intense permanent magnet proton source for China-accelerator driven sub-critical system Linac

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Q.; Ma, H. Y.; Yang, Y.; Sun, L. T.; Zhang, X. Z.; Zhang, Z. M.; Zhao, H. Y.; He, Y.; Zhao, H. W.

2016-02-01

Two compact intense 2.45 GHz permanent magnet proton sources and their corresponding low energy beam transport (LEBT) system were developed successfully for China accelerator driven sub-critical system in 2014. Both the proton sources operate at 35 kV potential. The beams extracted from the ion source are transported by the LEBT, which is composed of two identical solenoids, to the 2.1 MeV Radio-Frequency Quadrupole (RFQ). In order to ensure the safety of the superconducting cavities during commissioning, an electrostatic-chopper has been designed and installed in the LEBT line that can chop the continuous wave beam into a pulsed one. The minimum width of the pulse is less than 10 μs and the fall/rise time of the chopper is about 20 ns. The performance of the proton source and the LEBT, such as beam current, beam profile, emittance and the impact to RFQ injection will be presented.

Multi-MW accelerator target material properties under proton irradiation at Brookhaven National Laboratory linear isotope producer

DOE PAGES

Simos, N.; Ludewig, H.; Kirk, H.; ...

2018-05-29

The effects of proton beams irradiating materials considered for targets in high-power accelerator experiments have been studied using the Brookhaven National Laboratory’s (BNL) 200 MeV proton linac. A wide array of materials and alloys covering a wide range of the atomic number (Z) are being scoped by the high-power accelerator community prompting the BNL studies to focus on materials representing each distinct range, i.e. low-Z, mid-Z and high-Z. The low range includes materials such as beryllium and graphite, the midrange alloys such as Ti-6Al-4V, gum metal and super-Invar and finally the high-Z range pure tungsten and tantalum. Of interest inmore » assessing proton irradiation effects are (a) changes in physiomechanical properties which are important in maintaining high-power target functionality, (b) identification of possible limits of proton flux or fluence above which certain materials cease to maintain integrity, (c) the role of material operating temperature in inducing or maintaining radiation damage reversal, and (d) phase stability and microstructural changes. The paper presents excerpt results deduced from macroscopic and microscopic post-irradiation evaluation (PIE) following several irradiation campaigns conducted at the BNL 200 MeV linac and specifically at the isotope producer beam-line/target station. The microscopic PIE relied on high energy x-ray diffraction at the BNL NSLS X17B1 and NSLS II XPD beam lines. The studies reveal the dramatic effects of irradiation on phase stability in several of the materials, changes in physical properties and ductility loss as well as thermally induced radiation damage reversal in graphite and alloys such as super-Invar.« less

Multi-MW accelerator target material properties under proton irradiation at Brookhaven National Laboratory linear isotope producer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Simos, N.; Ludewig, H.; Kirk, H.; Dooryhee, E.; Ghose, S.; Zhong, Z.; Zhong, H.; Makimura, S.; Yoshimura, K.; Bennett, J. R. J.; Kotsinas, G.; Kotsina, Z.; McDonald, K. T.

2018-05-01

The effects of proton beams irradiating materials considered for targets in high-power accelerator experiments have been studied using the Brookhaven National Laboratory's (BNL) 200 MeV proton linac. A wide array of materials and alloys covering a wide range of the atomic number (Z) are being scoped by the high-power accelerator community prompting the BNL studies to focus on materials representing each distinct range, i.e. low-Z, mid-Z and high-Z. The low range includes materials such as beryllium and graphite, the midrange alloys such as Ti-6Al-4V, gum metal and super-Invar and finally the high-Z range pure tungsten and tantalum. Of interest in assessing proton irradiation effects are (a) changes in physiomechanical properties which are important in maintaining high-power target functionality, (b) identification of possible limits of proton flux or fluence above which certain materials cease to maintain integrity, (c) the role of material operating temperature in inducing or maintaining radiation damage reversal, and (d) phase stability and microstructural changes. The paper presents excerpt results deduced from macroscopic and microscopic post-irradiation evaluation (PIE) following several irradiation campaigns conducted at the BNL 200 MeV linac and specifically at the isotope producer beam-line/target station. The microscopic PIE relied on high energy x-ray diffraction at the BNL NSLS X17B1 and NSLS II XPD beam lines. The studies reveal the dramatic effects of irradiation on phase stability in several of the materials, changes in physical properties and ductility loss as well as thermally induced radiation damage reversal in graphite and alloys such as super-Invar.

Multi-MW accelerator target material properties under proton irradiation at Brookhaven National Laboratory linear isotope producer

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Simos, N.; Ludewig, H.; Kirk, H.

The effects of proton beams irradiating materials considered for targets in high-power accelerator experiments have been studied using the Brookhaven National Laboratory’s (BNL) 200 MeV proton linac. A wide array of materials and alloys covering a wide range of the atomic number (Z) are being scoped by the high-power accelerator community prompting the BNL studies to focus on materials representing each distinct range, i.e. low-Z, mid-Z and high-Z. The low range includes materials such as beryllium and graphite, the midrange alloys such as Ti-6Al-4V, gum metal and super-Invar and finally the high-Z range pure tungsten and tantalum. Of interest inmore » assessing proton irradiation effects are (a) changes in physiomechanical properties which are important in maintaining high-power target functionality, (b) identification of possible limits of proton flux or fluence above which certain materials cease to maintain integrity, (c) the role of material operating temperature in inducing or maintaining radiation damage reversal, and (d) phase stability and microstructural changes. The paper presents excerpt results deduced from macroscopic and microscopic post-irradiation evaluation (PIE) following several irradiation campaigns conducted at the BNL 200 MeV linac and specifically at the isotope producer beam-line/target station. The microscopic PIE relied on high energy x-ray diffraction at the BNL NSLS X17B1 and NSLS II XPD beam lines. The studies reveal the dramatic effects of irradiation on phase stability in several of the materials, changes in physical properties and ductility loss as well as thermally induced radiation damage reversal in graphite and alloys such as super-Invar.« less

Maximum proton kinetic energy and patient-generated neutron fluence considerations in proton beam arc delivery radiation therapy.

PubMed

Sengbusch, E; Pérez-Andújar, A; DeLuca, P M; Mackie, T R

2009-02-01

Several compact proton accelerator systems for use in proton therapy have recently been proposed. Of paramount importance to the development of such an accelerator system is the maximum kinetic energy of protons, immediately prior to entry into the patient, that must be reached by the treatment system. The commonly used value for the maximum kinetic energy required for a medical proton accelerator is 250 MeV, but it has not been demonstrated that this energy is indeed necessary to treat all or most patients eligible for proton therapy. This article quantifies the maximum kinetic energy of protons, immediately prior to entry into the patient, necessary to treat a given percentage of patients with rotational proton therapy, and examines the impact of this energy threshold on the cost and feasibility of a compact, gantry-mounted proton accelerator treatment system. One hundred randomized treatment plans from patients treated with IMRT were analyzed. The maximum radiological pathlength from the surface of the patient to the distal edge of the treatment volume was obtained for 180 degrees continuous arc proton therapy and for 180 degrees split arc proton therapy (two 90 degrees arcs) using CT# profiles from the Pinnacle (Philips Medical Systems, Madison, WI) treatment planning system. In each case, the maximum kinetic energy of protons, immediately prior to entry into the patient, that would be necessary to treat the patient was calculated using proton range tables for various media. In addition, Monte Carlo simulations were performed to quantify neutron production in a water phantom representing a patient as a function of the maximum proton kinetic energy achievable by a proton treatment system. Protons with a kinetic energy of 240 MeV, immediately prior to entry into the patient, were needed to treat 100% of patients in this study. However, it was shown that 90% of patients could be treated at 198 MeV, and 95% of patients could be treated at 207 MeV. Decreasing the

Effects of horizontal acceleration on the superconducting gravimeter CT #036 at Ishigakijima, Japan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Imanishi, Yuichi; Nawa, Kazunari; Tamura, Yoshiaki; Ikeda, Hiroshi

2018-01-01

In the gravity sensor of a superconducting gravimeter, a superconducting sphere as a test mass is levitated in a magnetic field. Such a sensor is susceptible to applied horizontal as well as vertical acceleration, because the translational degrees of freedom of the mass are not perfectly limited to the vertical direction. In the case of the superconducting gravimeter CT #036 installed at Ishigakijima, Japan, horizontal ground acceleration excited by the movements of a nearby VLBI antenna induces systematic step noise within the gravity recordings. We investigate this effect in terms of the static and dynamic properties of the gravity sensor using data from a collocated seismometer. It is shown that this effect can be effectively modeled by the coupling between the horizontal and vertical components in the gravity sensor. It is also found that the mechanical eigenfrequency for horizontal translation of the levitating sphere is approximately 3 Hz.[Figure not available: see fulltext.

Design of a New Acceleration System for High-Current Pulsed Proton Beams from an ECR Source

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cooper, Andrew L.; Pogrebnyak, Ivan; Surbrook, Jason T.; Kelly, Keegan J.; Carlin, Bret P.; Champagne, Arthur E.; Clegg, Thomas B.

2014-03-01

A primary objective for accelerators at TUNL's Laboratory for Experimental Nuclear Astrophysics (LENA) is to maximize target beam intensity to ensure a high rate of nuclear events during each experiment. Average proton target currents of several mA are needed from LENA's electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) ion source because nuclear cross sections decrease substantially at energies of interest <200 keV. We seek to suppress undesired continuous environmental background by pulsing the beam and detecting events only during beam pulses. To improve beam intensity and transport, we installed a more powerful, stable microwave system for the ECR plasma, and will install a new acceleration system. This system will: reduce defocusing effects of the beam's internal space charge; provide better vacuum with a high gas conductance accelerating column; suppress bremsstrahlung X-rays produced when backstreaming electrons strike internal acceleration tube structures; and provide better heat dissipation by using deionized water to provide the current drain needed to establish the accelerating tube's voltage gradient. Details of beam optical modeling calculations, proposed accelerating tube design, and initial beam pulsing tests will be described. Work supported in part by USDOE Office of HE and Nuclear Physics.

High energy protons generation by two sequential laser pulses

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wang, Xiaofeng; Shen, Baifei, E-mail: bfshen@mail.shcnc.ac.cn, E-mail: zhxm@siom.ac.cn; Zhang, Xiaomei, E-mail: bfshen@mail.shcnc.ac.cn, E-mail: zhxm@siom.ac.cn

2015-04-15

The sequential proton acceleration by two laser pulses of relativistic intensity is proposed to produce high energy protons. In the scheme, a relativistic super-Gaussian (SG) laser pulse followed by a Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) pulse irradiates dense plasma attached by underdense plasma. A proton beam is produced from the target and accelerated in the radiation pressure regime by the short SG pulse and then trapped and re-accelerated in a special bubble driven by the LG pulse in the underdense plasma. The advantages of radiation pressure acceleration and LG transverse structure are combined to achieve the effective trapping and acceleration of protons. Inmore » a two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation, protons of 6.7 GeV are obtained from a 2 × 10{sup 22 }W/cm{sup 2} SG laser pulse and a LG pulse at a lower peak intensity.« less

Spatiospectral Analysis of Accelerated Protons from Sub-Micron Liquid Crystal Films

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Willis, Christopher; Poole, Patrick; Cochran, Ginevra; van Woerkom, Linn; Schumacher, Douglass

2017-10-01

Recent studies on ion acceleration have trended towards ultra-thin (<1 μm) targets due to improved ion energies and yields from these targets. As discussed here, ultra-thin targets may exhibit unusual spatial distributions in the accelerated ions, such that ion spectrometer data may not be representative of the overall distribution. More complete characterization of the ions requires spectral unfolding of radiochromic film (RCF) data, yielding spatially dependent spectra. Spatiospectral data will be presented from several experiments using sub-micron liquid crystal film targets at the Scarlet (OSU), Texas Petawatt (UT, Austin) and PHELIX (GSI, Darmstadt) laser facilities, including evidence of >75 MeV protons from 300 nm films at PHELIX. Analysis of RCF data is supported by Monte-Carlo modeling of RCF response to ions and electrons using FLUKA. Trends in the resulting ion distributions will be discussed including spatially varying slope temperature and observation of annular ring features at moderate ion energies on many shots. This material is based upon work supported by the AFOSR under award FA9550-14-1-0085, by the DARPA PULSE program through a Grant from AMRDEC, and by the NNSA under contract DE-NA0003107.

Accelerator-based validation of shielding codes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zeitlin, Cary; Heilbronn, Lawrence; Miller, Jack

2002-08-12

The space radiation environment poses risks to astronaut health from a diverse set of sources, ranging from low-energy protons and electrons to highly-charged, high-energy atomic nuclei and their associated fragmentation products, including neutrons. The low-energy protons and electrons are the source of most of the radiation dose to Shuttle and ISS crews, while the more energetic particles that comprise the Galactic Cosmic Radiation (protons, He, and heavier nuclei up to Fe) will be the dominant source for crews on long-duration missions outside the earth's magnetic field. Because of this diversity of sources, a broad ground-based experimental effort is required tomore » validate the transport and shielding calculations used to predict doses and dose-equivalents under various mission scenarios. The experimental program of the LBNL group, described here, focuses principally on measurements of charged particle and neutron production in high-energy heavy-ion fragmentation. Other aspects of the program include measurements of the shielding provided by candidate spacesuit materials against low-energy protons (particularly relevant to extra-vehicular activities in low-earth orbit), and the depth-dose relations in tissue for higher-energy protons. The heavy-ion experiments are performed at the Brookhaven National Laboratory's Alternating Gradient Synchrotron and the Heavy-Ion Medical Accelerator in Chiba in Japan. Proton experiments are performed at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's 88'' Cyclotron with a 55 MeV beam, and at the Loma Linda University Proton Facility with 100 to 250 MeV beam energies. The experimental results are an important component of the overall shielding program, as they allow for simple, well-controlled tests of the models developed to handle the more complex radiation environment in space.« less

Optimal moderator materials at various proton energies considering photon dose rate after irradiation for an accelerator-driven ⁹Be(p, n) boron neutron capture therapy neutron source.

PubMed

Hashimoto, Y; Hiraga, F; Kiyanagi, Y

2015-12-01

We evaluated the accelerator beam power and the neutron-induced radioactivity of (9)Be(p, n) boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) neutron sources having a MgF2, CaF2, or AlF3 moderator and driven by protons with energy from 8 MeV to 30 MeV. The optimal moderator materials were found to be MgF2 for proton energies less than 10 MeV because of lower required accelerator beam power and CaF2 for higher proton energies because of lower photon dose rate at the treatment position after neutron irradiation. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Radiotherapy using a laser proton accelerator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murakami, Masao; Hishikawa, Yoshio; Miyajima, Satoshi; Okazaki, Yoshiko; Sutherland, Kenneth L.; Abe, Mitsuyuki; Bulanov, Sergei V.; Daido, Hiroyuki; Esirkepov, Timur Zh.; Koga, James; Yamagiwa, Mitsuru; Tajima, Toshiki

2008-06-01

Laser acceleration promises innovation in particle beam therapy of cancer where an ultra-compact accelerator system for cancer beam therapy can become affordable to a broad range of patients. This is not feasible without the introduction of a technology that is radically different from the conventional accelerator-based approach. Because of its compactness and other novel characteristics, the laser acceleration method provides many enhanced capabilities

LATTICES FOR HIGH-POWER PROTON BEAM ACCELERATION AND SECONDARY BEAM COLLECTION AND COOLING.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

WANG, S.; WEI, J.; BROWN, K.

2006-06-23

Rapid cycling synchrotrons are used to accelerate high-intensity proton beams to energies of tens of GeV for secondary beam production. After primary beam collision with a target, the secondary beam can be collected, cooled, accelerated or decelerated by ancillary synchrotrons for various applications. In this paper, we first present a lattice for the main synchrotron. This lattice has: (a) flexible momentum compaction to avoid transition and to facilitate RF gymnastics (b) long straight sections for low-loss injection, extraction, and high-efficiency collimation (c) dispersion-free straights to avoid longitudinal-transverse coupling, and (d) momentum cleaning at locations of large dispersion with missing dipoles.more » Then, we present a lattice for a cooler ring for the secondary beam. The momentum compaction across half of this ring is near zero, while for the other half it is normal. Thus, bad mixing is minimized while good mixing is maintained for stochastic beam cooling.« less

Report of the Snowmass M6 Working Group on high intensity proton sources

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Weiren Chou and J. Wei

The U.S. high-energy physics program needs an intense proton source, a 1-4 MW Proton Driver (PD), by the end of this decade. This machine will serve as a stand-alone facility that will provide neutrino superbeams and other high intensity secondary beams such as kaons, muons, neutrons, and anti-protons (cf. E1 and E5 group reports) and also serve as the first stage of a neutrino factory (cf. M1 group report). It can also be a high brightness source for a VLHC. Based on present accelerator technology and project construction experience, it is both feasible and cost-effective to construct a 1-4 MWmore » Proton Driver. Two recent PD design studies have been made, one at FNAL and the other at the BNL. Both designed PD's for 1 MW proton beams at a cost of about U.S. $200M (excluding contingency and overhead) and both designs were upgradeable to 4 MW. An international collaboration between FNAL, BNL and KEK on high intensity proton facilities is addressing a number of key design issues. The superconducting (sc) RF cavities, cryogenics, and RF controls developed for the SNS can be directly adopted to save R&D efforts, cost, and schedule. PD studies are also actively being pursued at Europe and Japan.« less

Transforming in-situ observations of CME-driven shock accelerated protons into the shock's reference frame.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Robinson, I. M.; Simnett, G. M.

2005-07-01

We examine the solar energetic particle event following solar activity from 14, 15 April 2001 which includes a "bump-on-the-tail" in the proton energy spectra at 0.99 AU from the Sun. We find this population was generated by a CME-driven shock which arrived at 0.99 AU around midnight 18 April. As such this population represents an excellent opportunity to study in isolation, the effects of proton acceleration by the shock. The peak energy of the bump-on-the-tail evolves to progressively lower energies as the shock approaches the observing spacecraft at the inner Lagrange point. Focusing on the evolution of this peak energy we demonstrate a technique which transforms these in-situ spectral observations into a frame of reference co-moving with the shock whilst making allowance for the effects of pitch angle scattering and focusing. The results of this transform suggest the bump-on-the-tail population was not driven by the 15 April activity but was generated or at least modulated by a CME-driven shock which left the Sun on 14 April. The existence of a bump-on-the-tail population is predicted by models in Rice et al. (2003) and Li et al. (2003) which we compare with observations and the results of our analysis in the context of both the 14 April and 15 April CMEs. We find an origin of the bump-on-the-tail at the 14 April CME-driven shock provides better agreement with these modelled predictions although some discrepancy exists as to the shock's ability to accelerate 100 MeV protons. Keywords. Solar physics, astrophysics and astronomy (Energetic particles; Flares and mass ejections) Space plasma physics (Transport processes)

Study on patient-induced radioactivity during proton treatment in hengjian proton medical facility.

PubMed

Wu, Qingbiao; Wang, Qingbin; Liang, Tianjiao; Zhang, Gang; Ma, Yinglin; Chen, Yu; Ye, Rong; Liu, Qiongyao; Wang, Yufei; Wang, Huaibao

2016-09-01

At present, increasingly more proton medical facilities have been established globally for better curative effect and less side effect in tumor treatment. Compared with electron and photon, proton delivers more energy and dose at its end of range (Bragg peak), and has less lateral scattering for its much larger mass. However, proton is much easier to produce neutron and induced radioactivity, which makes radiation protection for proton accelerators more difficult than for electron accelerators. This study focuses on the problem of patient-induced radioactivity during proton treatment, which has been ignored for years. However, we confirmed it is a vital factor for radiation protection to both patient escort and positioning technician, by FLUKA's simulation and activation formula calculation of Hengjian Proton Medical Facility (HJPMF), whose energy ranges from 130 to 230MeV. Furthermore, new formulas for calculating the activity buildup process of periodic irradiation were derived and used to study the relationship between saturation degree and half-life of nuclides. Finally, suggestions are put forward to lessen the radiation hazard from patient-induced radioactivity. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Handling Radioactive Waste from the Proton Accelerator Facility at the Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI) - Always Surprising? - 13320

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mueth, Joachim

The Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI) is the largest national research centre in Switzerland. Its multidisciplinary research is dedicated to a wide field in natural science and technology as well as particle physics. In this context, PSI is operating, amongst others, a large proton accelerator facility since more than 30 years. In two cyclotrons, protons are accelerated to high speeds and then guided along roughly 100 m of beam line to three different target stations to produce secondary particles like mesons and neutrons for experiments and a separately beam line for UCN. The protons induce spallation processes in the target materials,more » and also at other beam loss points along the way, with emission of protons, neutrons, hydrogen, tritium, helium, heavier fragments and fission processes. In particular the produced neutrons, due to their large penetration depth, will then interact also with the surrounding materials. These interactions of radiation with matter lead to activation and partly to contamination of machine components and the surrounding infrastructures. Maintenance, operation and decommissioning of installations generate inevitably substantial amounts of radioactive operational and dismantling waste like targets, magnets, collimators, shielding (concrete, steel) and of course secondary waste. To achieve an optimal waste management strategy for interim storage or final disposal, radioactive waste has to be characterized, sorted and treated. This strategy is based on radiation protection demands, raw waste properties (size, material, etc.), and requirements to reduce the volume of waste, mainly for legal and economical reasons. In addition, the radiological limitations for transportation of the waste packages to a future disposal site have to be taken into account, as well as special regulatory demands. The characterization is a task of the waste producer. The conditioning processes and quality checks for radioactive waste packages are part of an

Beam emittance control by changing injection painting area in a pulse-to-pulse mode in the 3-GeV rapid cycling synchrotron of Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saha, P. K.; Harada, H.; Hayashi, N.; Horino, K.; Hotchi, H.; Kinsho, M.; Takayanagi, T.; Tani, N.; Togashi, T.; Ueno, T.; Yamazaki, Y.; Irie, Y.

2013-12-01

The 3-GeV rapid cycling synchrotron (RCS) of Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC) simultaneously delivers high intensity beam to the Material and Life Science Experimental Facility (MLF) as well as to the main ring (MR) at a repetition rate of 25 Hz. The RCS is designed for a beam power of 1 MW. RCS has to meet not only the need of power upgrade but also the specific requirement of each downstream facility. One of the issues, especially for high intensity operation, is to maintain two different transverse sizes of the extracted beam for MLF and MR; namely, a wider beam for MLF in order to reduce damage on the neutron production target but reversely a narrower one for the MR in order to ensure a permissible beam loss in the beam transport line of 3-GeV to MR and also in the MR. We proposed pulse-to-pulse direct control of the transverse painting area during the RCS beam injection process in order to get an extracted beam profile as desired. In addition to two existing dc septum magnets used for fixing injected beam trajectory for MLF beam, two additional dipoles named pulse steering magnets are designed for that purpose in order to control injected beam trajectory for a smaller painting area for the MR. The magnets are already installed in the injection beam transport line and successfully commissioned well in advance before they will be put in normal operation in 2014 for the 400 MeV injected beam energy upgraded from that of the present 181 MeV. Their parameters are found to be consistent to those expected in the corresponding numerical simulations. A trial one cycle user operation run for a painting area of 100πmmmrad for the MR switching from the MLF painting area of 150πmmmrad has also been successfully carried out. The extracted beam profile for the MR is measured to be sufficiently narrower as compared to that for the MLF, consistent with numerical simulation successfully demonstrating validity of the present principle.

Beyond the CMSSM without an accelerator: Proton decay and direct dark matter detection

DOE PAGES

Ellis, John; Evans, Jason L.; Luo, Feng; ...

2016-01-05

Here, we consider two potential non-accelerator signatures of generalizations of the well-studied constrained minimal supersymmetric standard model (CMSSM). In one generalization, the universality constraints on soft supersymmetry-breaking parameters are applied at some input scale M inbelow the grand unification (GUT) scale M GUT, a scenario referred to as ‘sub-GUT’. The other generalization we consider is to retain GUT-scale universality for the squark and slepton masses, but to relax universality for the soft supersymmetry-breaking contributions to the masses of the Higgs doublets. As with other CMSSM-like models, the measured Higgs mass requires supersymmetric particle masses near or beyond the TeV scale.more » Because of these rather heavy sparticle masses, the embedding of these CMSSM-like models in a minimal SU(5) model of grand unification can yield a proton lifetime consistent with current experimental limits, and may be accessible in existing and future proton decay experiments. Another possible signature of these CMSSM-like models is direct detection of supersymmetric dark matter. The direct dark matter scattering rate is typically below the reach of the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment if M in is close to M GUT, but it may lie within its reach if M in≲10 11 GeV. Likewise, generalizing the CMSSM to allow non-universal supersymmetry-breaking contributions to the Higgs offers extensive possibilities for models within reach of the LZ experiment that have long proton lifetimes.« less

Beyond the CMSSM without an accelerator: proton decay and direct dark matter detection.

PubMed

Ellis, John; Evans, Jason L; Luo, Feng; Nagata, Natsumi; Olive, Keith A; Sandick, Pearl

We consider two potential non-accelerator signatures of generalizations of the well-studied constrained minimal supersymmetric standard model (CMSSM). In one generalization, the universality constraints on soft supersymmetry-breaking parameters are applied at some input scale [Formula: see text] below the grand unification (GUT) scale [Formula: see text], a scenario referred to as 'sub-GUT'. The other generalization we consider is to retain GUT-scale universality for the squark and slepton masses, but to relax universality for the soft supersymmetry-breaking contributions to the masses of the Higgs doublets. As with other CMSSM-like models, the measured Higgs mass requires supersymmetric particle masses near or beyond the TeV scale. Because of these rather heavy sparticle masses, the embedding of these CMSSM-like models in a minimal SU(5) model of grand unification can yield a proton lifetime consistent with current experimental limits, and may be accessible in existing and future proton decay experiments. Another possible signature of these CMSSM-like models is direct detection of supersymmetric dark matter. The direct dark matter scattering rate is typically below the reach of the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment if [Formula: see text] is close to [Formula: see text], but it may lie within its reach if [Formula: see text] GeV. Likewise, generalizing the CMSSM to allow non-universal supersymmetry-breaking contributions to the Higgs offers extensive possibilities for models within reach of the LZ experiment that have long proton lifetimes.

Preliminary results of proton radiotherapy for pediatric rhabdomyosarcoma: a multi-institutional study in Japan.

PubMed

Mizumoto, Masashi; Murayama, Shigeyuki; Akimoto, Tetsuo; Demizu, Yusuke; Fukushima, Takashi; Ishida, Yuji; Oshiro, Yoshiko; Numajiri, Haruko; Fuji, Hiroshi; Okumura, Toshiyuki; Shirato, Hiroki; Sakurai, Hideyuki

2018-05-01

To evaluate preliminary results of proton radiotherapy (PRT) for pediatric patients with rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS). From 1987 to 2014, PRT was conducted as initial radiotherapy in 55 patients (35 males, 20 females, median age 5 years, range 0-19) with RMS at four institutes in Japan. Thirty-one, 18, and six patients had embryonal, alveolar, and other RMS, respectively. One, 11, 37, and six patients were in IRSG groups I, II, III, and IV, respectively, and the COG risk group was low, intermediate, and high for nine, 39, and seven patients, respectively. The irradiation dose was 36-60 GyE (median: 50.4 GyE). The median follow-up period was 24.5 months (range: 1.5-320.3). The 1- and 2-year overall survival rates were 91.9% (95% CI: 84.3-99.5%) and 84.8% (95% CI 75.2-94.3%), respectively, and these rates were 100% and 100%, 97.1% and 90.1%, and 57.1% and 42.9% for COG low-, intermediate-, and high-risk groups, respectively. There were 153 adverse events of Grade ≥3, including 141 hematologic toxicities in 48 patients (87%) and 12 radiation-induced toxicities in nine patients (16%). Proton-specific toxicity was not observed. PRT has the same treatment effect as photon radiotherapy with tolerable acute radiation-induced toxicity. © 2018 The Authors. Cancer Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Collective acceleration of ions in a system with an insulated anode

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bystritskii, V. M.; Didenko, A. N.; Krasik, Ya. E.; Lopatin, V. S.; Podkatov, V. I.

1980-11-01

An investigation was made of the processes of collective acceleration of protons in vacuum in a system with an insulated anode and trans-anode electrodes, which were insulated or grounded, in high-current Tonus and Vera electron accelerators. The influence of external conditions and parameters of the electron beam on the efficiency of acceleration processes was investigated. Experiments were carried out in which protons were accelerated in a system with trans-anode electrodes. A study was made of the influence of a charge prepulse and of the number of trans-anode electrodes on the energy of the accelerated electrons. A system with a single anode produced Np=1014 protons of 2Ee < Ep < 3Ee energy. Suppression of a charge prepulse increased the proton energy to (6 8)Ee and the yield was then 1013. The maximum proton energy of 14Ee was obtained in a system with three trans-anode electrodes. A possible mechanism of proton acceleration was analyzed. The results obtained were compared with those of other investigations. Ways of increasing the efficiency of this acceleration method were considered.

A CW FFAG for Proton Computed Tomography

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Johnstone, C.; Neuffer, D. V.; Snopok, P.

2012-05-01

An advantage of the cyclotron in proton therapy is the continuous (CW) beam output which reduces complexity and response time in the dosimetry requirements and beam controls. A CW accelerator requires isochronous particle orbits at all energie s through the acceleration cycle and present compact isochronous cyclotrons for proton therapy reach only 250 MeV (kinetic energy) which is required for patient treatment, but low for full Proton Computed Tomography (PCT) capability. PCT specifications ne ed 300-330 MeV in order for protons to transit the human body. Recent innovations in nonscaling FFAG design have achieved isochronous performance in a compact (~3more » m radius) design at these higher energies. Preliminary isochronous designs are presented her e. Lower energy beams can be efficiently extracted for patient treatment without changes to the acceleration cycle and magnet currents.« less

GPU-accelerated automatic identification of robust beam setups for proton and carbon-ion radiotherapy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ammazzalorso, F.; Bednarz, T.; Jelen, U.

2014-03-01

We demonstrate acceleration on graphic processing units (GPU) of automatic identification of robust particle therapy beam setups, minimizing negative dosimetric effects of Bragg peak displacement caused by treatment-time patient positioning errors. Our particle therapy research toolkit, RobuR, was extended with OpenCL support and used to implement calculation on GPU of the Port Homogeneity Index, a metric scoring irradiation port robustness through analysis of tissue density patterns prior to dose optimization and computation. Results were benchmarked against an independent native CPU implementation. Numerical results were in agreement between the GPU implementation and native CPU implementation. For 10 skull base cases, the GPU-accelerated implementation was employed to select beam setups for proton and carbon ion treatment plans, which proved to be dosimetrically robust, when recomputed in presence of various simulated positioning errors. From the point of view of performance, average running time on the GPU decreased by at least one order of magnitude compared to the CPU, rendering the GPU-accelerated analysis a feasible step in a clinical treatment planning interactive session. In conclusion, selection of robust particle therapy beam setups can be effectively accelerated on a GPU and become an unintrusive part of the particle therapy treatment planning workflow. Additionally, the speed gain opens new usage scenarios, like interactive analysis manipulation (e.g. constraining of some setup) and re-execution. Finally, through OpenCL portable parallelism, the new implementation is suitable also for CPU-only use, taking advantage of multiple cores, and can potentially exploit types of accelerators other than GPUs.

Shock-Wave Acceleration of Protons on OMEGA EP

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haberberger, D.; Froula, D. H.; Pak, A.; Link, A.; Patel, P.; Fiuza, F.; Tochitsky, S.; Joshi, C.

2015-11-01

Recent experimental results using shock-wave acceleration (SWA) driven by a CO2 laser in a H2 gas-jet plasma have shown the possibility of producing proton beams with energy spreads <10% and with energies of up to 20 MeV using a modest peak laser power of 4 TW. Here we propose the investigation of the scaling of the SWA mechanism to higher laser powers using the 1- μm OMEGA EP Laser System at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics. The required tailored plasma profile is created by expanding a CH target using the thermal x-ray emission from a UV ablated material. The desired characteristics optimal for SWA are met: (a) peak plasma density is overcritical for the 1- μm main pulse and (b) the plasma profile exponentially decays over a long scale length on the rear side. Results will be shown using a 4 ω probe to experimentally characterize the plasma density profile. Scaling from simulations of the SWA mechanism shows that ion energies in the range of 100 MeV/amu are achievable with a focused a0 of 5 from the OMEGA EP Laser System. This material is based upon work supported by the Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration under Award Number DE-NA0001944.

On the retention of high-energy protons and nuclei with charges Z or equal to 2 in large solar flares after the process of their acceleration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Volodichev, N. N.; Kuzhevsky, B. M.; Nechaev, O. Y.; Savenko, I. A.

1985-01-01

Data which suggest that the protons with energies of up to several GeV should be retained on the Sun after the process of their acceleration are presented. The protons are on the average retained for 15 min, irrespectively of the solar flare heliolatitude and of the accelerated particle energy ranging from 100 MeV to several GeV. It is suggested that the particles are retained in a magnetic trap formed in a solar active region. No Z or = 2 nuclei of solar origin during large solar flares. The absence of the 500 MeV/nucleon nuclei with Z or = 2 may be due to their retention in the magnetic trap which also retains the high-energy protons. During the trapping time the approx. 500 MeV/nucleon nuclei with Z or = 2 may escape due to nuclear interactions and ionization loss.

Accelerating gradient improvement from hole-boring to light-sail stage using shape-tailored laser front

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, W. P.; Shen, B. F.; Xu, Z. Z.

2017-01-01

The accelerating gradient of a proton beam is a crucial factor for the stable radiation pressure acceleration, because quickly accelerating protons into the relativistic region may reduce the multidimensional instability grow to a certain extent. In this letter, a shape-tailored laser is designed to accelerate the protons in a controllable high accelerating gradient in theory. Finally, a proton beam in the gigaelectronvolt range with an energy spread of ˜2.4% is obtained in one-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. With the future development of the high-intense laser, the ability to accelerate a high energy proton beam using a shape-tailored laser will be important for realistic proton applications, such as fast ignition for inertial confinement fusion, medical therapy, and proton imaging.

First-order shock acceleration in solar flares

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ellison, D. C.; Ramaty, R.

1985-01-01

The first order Fermi shock acceleration model is compared with specific observations where electron, proton, and alpha particle spectra are available. In all events, it is found that a single shock with a compression ratio as inferred from the low energy proton spectra can reasonably produce the full proton, electron, and alpha particle spectra. The model predicts that the acceleration time to a given energy will be approximately equal for electrons and protons and, for reasonable solar parameters, can be less than 1 sec to 100 MeV.

Configuration Manual Polarized Proton Collider at RHIC

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Alekseev, I.; Allgower, C.; Bai, M.

2006-01-01

In this report we present our design to accelerate and store polarized protons in RHIC, with the level of polarization, luminosity, and control of systematic errors required by the approved RHIC spin physics program. We provide an overview of the physics to be studied using RHIC with polarized proton beams, and a brief description of the accelerator systems required for the project.

MeV proton acceleration at kHz repetition rate from ultra-intense laser liquid interaction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morrison, John T.; Feister, Scott; Frische, Kyle D.; Austin, Drake R.; Ngirmang, Gregory K.; Murphy, Neil R.; Orban, Chris; Chowdhury, Enam A.; Roquemore, W. M.

2018-02-01

Laser acceleration of ions to ≳MeV energies has been achieved on a variety of Petawatt laser systems, raising the prospect of ion beam applications using compact ultra-intense laser technology. However, translation from proof-of-concept laser experiment into real-world application requires MeV-scale ion energies and an appreciable repetition rate (>Hz). We demonstrate, for the first time, proton acceleration up to 2 MeV energies at a kHz repetition rate using a milli-joule-class short-pulse laser system. In these experiments, 5 mJ of ultrashort-pulse laser energy is delivered at an intensity near 5× {10}18 {{W}} {cm}}-2 onto a thin-sheet, liquid-density target. Key to this effort is a flowing liquid ethylene glycol target formed in vacuum with thicknesses down to 400 nm and full recovery at 70 μs, suggesting its potential use at ≫kHz rate. Novel detectors and experimental methods tailored to high-repetition-rate ion acceleration by lasers were essential to this study and are described. In addition, particle-in-cell simulations of the laser-plasma interaction show good agreement with experimental observations.

A pixel detector system for laser-accelerated ion detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reinhardt, S.; Draxinger, W.; Schreiber, J.; Assmann, W.

2013-03-01

Laser ion acceleration is an unique acceleration process that creates ultra-short ion pulses of high intensity ( > 107 ions/cm2/ns), which makes online detection an ambitious task. Non-electronic detectors such as radio-chromic films (RCF), imaging plates (IP) or nuclear track detectors (e.g. CR39) are broadly used at present. Only offline information on ion pulse intensity and position are available by these detectors, as minutes to hours of processing time are required after their exposure. With increasing pulse repetition rate of the laser system, there is a growing need for detection of laser accelerated ions in real-time. Therefore, we have investigated a commercial pixel detector system for online detection of laser-accelerated proton pulses. The CMOS imager RadEye1 was chosen, which is based on a photodiode array, 512 × 1024 pixels with 48 μm pixel pitch, thus offering a large sensitive area of approximately 25 × 50 mm2. First detection tests were accomplished at the conventional electrostatic 14 MV Tandem accelerator in Munich as well as Atlas laser accelerator. Detector response measurements at the conventional accelerator have been accomplished in a proton beam in dc (15 MeV) and pulsed (20 MeV) irradiation mode, the latter providing comparable particle flux as under laser acceleration conditions. Radiation hardness of the device was studied using protons (20 MeV) and C-ions (77 MeV), additionally. The detector system shows a linear response up to a maximum pulse flux of about 107 protons/cm2/ns. Single particle detection is possible in a low flux beam (104 protons/cm2/s) for all investigated energies. The radiation hardness has shown to give reasonable lifetime for an application at the laser accelerator. The results from the irradiation at a conventional accelerator are confirmed by a cross-calibration with CR39 in a laser-accelerated proton beam at the MPQ Atlas Laser in Garching, showing no problems of detector operation in presence of electro

Laser-driven ion acceleration via target normal sheath acceleration in the relativistic transparency regime

DOE PAGES

Poole, P. L.; Obst, L.; Cochran, G. E.; ...

2018-01-11

Here we present an experimental study investigating laser-driven proton acceleration via target normal sheath acceleration (TNSA) over a target thickness range spanning the typical TNSA-dominant regime (~1 μm) down to below the onset of relativistic laser-transparency (<40 nm). This is done with a single target material in the form of freely adjustable films of liquid crystals along with high contrast (via plasma mirror) laser interaction (~2.65 J, 30 fs, I>1 x 10 21 W cm -2). Thickness dependent maximum proton energies scale well with TNSA models down to the thinnest targets, while those under ~40 nm indicate the influence ofmore » relativistic transparency on TNSA, observed via differences in light transmission, maximum proton energy, and proton beam spatial profile. Oblique laser incidence (45°) allowed the fielding of numerous diagnostics to determine the interaction quality and details: ion energy and spatial distribution was measured along the laser axis and both front and rear target normal directions; these along with reflected and transmitted light measurements on-shot verify TNSA as dominant during high contrast interaction, even for ultra-thin targets. Additionally, 3D particle-in-cell simulations qualitatively support the experimental observations of target-normal-directed proton acceleration from ultra-thin films.« less

Laser-driven ion acceleration via target normal sheath acceleration in the relativistic transparency regime

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Poole, P. L.; Obst, L.; Cochran, G. E.

Here we present an experimental study investigating laser-driven proton acceleration via target normal sheath acceleration (TNSA) over a target thickness range spanning the typical TNSA-dominant regime (~1 μm) down to below the onset of relativistic laser-transparency (<40 nm). This is done with a single target material in the form of freely adjustable films of liquid crystals along with high contrast (via plasma mirror) laser interaction (~2.65 J, 30 fs, I>1 x 10 21 W cm -2). Thickness dependent maximum proton energies scale well with TNSA models down to the thinnest targets, while those under ~40 nm indicate the influence ofmore » relativistic transparency on TNSA, observed via differences in light transmission, maximum proton energy, and proton beam spatial profile. Oblique laser incidence (45°) allowed the fielding of numerous diagnostics to determine the interaction quality and details: ion energy and spatial distribution was measured along the laser axis and both front and rear target normal directions; these along with reflected and transmitted light measurements on-shot verify TNSA as dominant during high contrast interaction, even for ultra-thin targets. Additionally, 3D particle-in-cell simulations qualitatively support the experimental observations of target-normal-directed proton acceleration from ultra-thin films.« less

Development of the integrated control system for the microwave ion source of the PEFP 100-MeV proton accelerator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Song, Young-Gi; Seol, Kyung-Tae; Jang, Ji-Ho; Kwon, Hyeok-Jung; Cho, Yong-Sub

2012-07-01

The Proton Engineering Frontier Project (PEFP) 20-MeV proton linear accelerator is currently operating at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI). The ion source of the 100-MeV proton linac needs at least a 100-hour operation time. To meet the goal, we have developed a microwave ion source that uses no filament. For the ion source, a remote control system has been developed by using experimental physics and the industrial control system (EPICS) software framework. The control system consists of a versa module europa (VME) and EPICS-based embedded applications running on a VxWorks real-time operating system. The main purpose of the control system is to control and monitor the operational variables of the components remotely and to protect operators from radiation exposure and the components from critical problems during beam extraction. We successfully performed the operation test of the control system to confirm the degree of safety during the hardware performance.

Accelerated event-by-event Monte Carlo microdosimetric calculations of electrons and protons tracks on a multi-core CPU and a CUDA-enabled GPU.

PubMed

Kalantzis, Georgios; Tachibana, Hidenobu

2014-01-01

For microdosimetric calculations event-by-event Monte Carlo (MC) methods are considered the most accurate. The main shortcoming of those methods is the extensive requirement for computational time. In this work we present an event-by-event MC code of low projectile energy electron and proton tracks for accelerated microdosimetric MC simulations on a graphic processing unit (GPU). Additionally, a hybrid implementation scheme was realized by employing OpenMP and CUDA in such a way that both GPU and multi-core CPU were utilized simultaneously. The two implementation schemes have been tested and compared with the sequential single threaded MC code on the CPU. Performance comparison was established on the speed-up for a set of benchmarking cases of electron and proton tracks. A maximum speedup of 67.2 was achieved for the GPU-based MC code, while a further improvement of the speedup up to 20% was achieved for the hybrid approach. The results indicate the capability of our CPU-GPU implementation for accelerated MC microdosimetric calculations of both electron and proton tracks without loss of accuracy. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Modification of the argon stripping target of the tandem accelerator.

PubMed

Makarov, A; Ostreinov, Yu; Taskaev, S; Vobly, P

2015-12-01

The tandem accelerator with vacuum insulation has been proposed and developed in Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics. Negative hydrogen ions are accelerated by the positive 1MV potential of the high-voltage electrode, converted into protons in the gas stripping target inside the electrode, and then protons are accelerated again by the same potential. A stationary proton beam with 2 MeV energy, 1.6 mA current, 0.1% energy monochromaticity, and 0.5% current stability is obtained now. To conduct Boron Neutron Capture Therapy it is planned to increase the proton beam current to at least 3 mA. The paper presents the results of experimental studies clarifying the reasons for limiting the current, and gives suggestions for modifying the gas stripping target in order to increase the proton beam current along with the stability of the accelerator. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

FERMILAB ACCELERATOR R&D PROGRAM TOWARDS INTENSITY FRONTIER ACCELERATORS : STATUS AND PROGRESS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Shiltsev, Vladimir

2016-11-15

The 2014 P5 report indicated the accelerator-based neutrino and rare decay physics research as a centrepiece of the US domestic HEP program at Fermilab. Operation, upgrade and development of the accelerators for the near- term and longer-term particle physics program at the Intensity Frontier face formidable challenges. Here we discuss key elements of the accelerator physics and technology R&D program toward future multi-MW proton accelerators and present its status and progress. INTENSITY FRONTIER ACCELERATORS

Proton beams in radiotherapy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khoroshkov, V. S.; Minakova, E. I.

1998-11-01

A branch of radiology, proton therapy employs fast protons as a tool for the treatment of various, mainly oncological, diseases. The features of tissue ionization by protons (Bragg peak) facilitate a further step towards solving the principal challenge in radiology: to deliver a sufficiently high and homogeneous dose to virtually any tumour, while sparing healthy neighbouring tissues, organs and structures. The state of the art of proton therapy is described, as well as the main technical, physics and clinical results gained since the 1950s at high-energy physics centres worldwide. The future of proton therapy is connected with the construction of hospital-based facilities with dedicated medical accelerators and modern technical instrumentation.

Design of a proton microbeam of the PEFP

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kim, Kye Ryung; Kim, Yong Hwan; Chang, Ji Ho

2008-02-15

The PEFP has been developing a 100 MeV proton linear accelerator and user facilities for 20 and 100 MeV proton beams. At one end of the five 20 MeV proton beam lines, a proton microbeam construction was considered for an application in the fields of material, biological, and medical sciences. To develop the proton microbeam, realization of a few MeV proton beam with a few tens of microamperes in diameter of a beam spot was essentially required. In this report, the basic descriptions of the proton microbeam which is composed of an energy degrader, slits, magnetic lens, a target chamber,more » and detectors are presented including a consideration of unfavorable aspects concerning some specific characteristics of a linear accelerator, such as pulse mode operation and fixed energy. Some calculation results from a Monte Carlo simulation by using the SRIM2006 and the TURTLE codes are also included.« less

Accelerators for America's Future

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bai, Mei

2016-03-01

Particle accelerator, a powerful tool to energize beams of charged particles to a desired speed and energy, has been the working horse for investigating the fundamental structure of matter and fundermental laws of nature. Most known examples are the 2-mile long Stanford Linear Accelerator at SLAC, the high energy proton and anti-proton collider Tevatron at FermiLab, and Large Hadron Collider that is currently under operation at CERN. During the less than a century development of accelerator science and technology that led to a dazzling list of discoveries, particle accelerators have also found various applications beyond particle and nuclear physics research, and become an indispensible part of the economy. Today, one can find a particle accelerator at almost every corner of our lives, ranging from the x-ray machine at the airport security to radiation diagnostic and therapy in hospitals. This presentation will give a brief introduction of the applications of this powerful tool in fundermental research as well as in industry. Challenges in accelerator science and technology will also be briefly presented

Accelerator driven sub-critical core

DOEpatents

McIntyre, Peter M; Sattarov, Akhdiyor

2015-03-17

Systems and methods for operating an accelerator driven sub-critical core. In one embodiment, a fission power generator includes a sub-critical core and a plurality of proton beam generators. Each of the proton beam generators is configured to concurrently provide a proton beam into a different area of the sub-critical core. Each proton beam scatters neutrons within the sub-critical core. The plurality of proton beam generators provides aggregate power to the sub-critical core, via the proton beams, to scatter neutrons sufficient to initiate fission in the sub-critical core.

Acceleration of low-energy protons and alpha particles at interplanetary shock waves

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Scholer, M.; Hovestadt, D.; Ipavich, F. M.; Gloeckler, G.

1983-01-01

The low-energy protons and alpha particles in the energy range 30 keV/charge to 150 keV/charge associated with three different interplanetary shock waves in the immediate preshock and postshock region are studied using data obtained by the ISEE 3. The spatial distributions in the preshock and postshock medium are presented, and the dependence of the phase space density at different energies on the distance from the shock and on the form of the distribution function of both species immediately at the shock is examined. It is found that in the preshock region the particles are flowing in the solar wind frame of reference away from the shock and in the postshock medium the distribution is more or less isotropic in this frame of reference. The distribution function in the postshock region can be represented by a power law in energy which has the same spectral exponent for both protons and alpha particles. It is concluded that the first-order Fermi acceleration process can consistently explain the data, although the spectra of diffuse bow shock associated particles are different from the spectra of the interplanetary shock-associated particles in the immediate vicinity of the shock. In addition, the mean free path of the low energy ions in the preshock medium is found to be considerably smaller than the mean free path determined by the turbulence of the background interplanetary medium.

Present Status and Future Developments in Proton Therapy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, Alfred R.

2009-07-01

Within the past few years, interest in proton therapy has significantly increased. This interest has been generated by a number of factors including: 1) the reporting of positive clinical results using proton beams; 2) approval of reimbursement for delivery of proton therapy; 3) the success of hospital-based proton therapy centers; and 4) the availability of modern, integrated proton therapy technology for hospital-based facilities. In the United States, this increased interest has occurred particularly at the level of smaller academic hospitals, community medical centers, and large private practices; however, interest from large academic centers continues to be strong. Particular interest exists regarding smaller and less-expensive proton therapy systems, especially the so-called "single-room" systems. In this paper, the advantages and disadvantages of 1-room proton therapy systems will be discussed. The emphasis on smaller and cheaper proton therapy facilities has also generated interest in new proton-accelerating technologies such as superconducting cyclotrons and synchrocyclotrons, laser acceleration, and dielectric-wall accelerators. Superconducting magnets are also being developed to decrease the size and weight of isocentric gantries. Another important technical development is spot-beam scanning, which offers the ability to deliver intensity-modulated proton treatments (IMPT). IMPT has the potential to provide dose distributions that are superior to those for photon intensity modulation techniques (IMXT) and to improve clinical outcomes for patients undergoing cancer therapy. At the present time, only two facilities—one in Europe and one in the United States—have the ability to deliver IMPT treatments, however, within the next year or two several additional facilities are expected to achieve this capability.

Solid state ionics: a Japan perspective

PubMed Central

Yamamoto, Osamu

2017-01-01

Abstract The 70-year history of scientific endeavor of solid state ionics research in Japan is reviewed to show the contribution of Japanese scientists to the basic science of solid state ionics and its applications. The term ‘solid state ionics’ was defined by Takehiko Takahashi of Nagoya University, Japan: it refers to ions in solids, especially solids that exhibit high ionic conductivity at a fairly low temperature below their melting points. During the last few decades of exploration, many ion conducting solids have been discovered in Japan such as the copper-ion conductor Rb4Cu16I7Cl13, proton conductor SrCe1–xYxO3, oxide-ion conductor La0.9Sr0.9Ga0.9Mg0.1O3, and lithium-ion conductor Li10GeP2S12. Rb4Cu16I7Cl13 has a conductivity of 0.33 S cm–1 at 25 °C, which is the highest of all room temperature ion conductive solid electrolytes reported to date, and Li10GeP2S12 has a conductivity of 0.012 S cm–1 at 25 °C, which is the highest among lithium-ion conductors reported to date. Research on high-temperature proton conducting ceramics began in Japan. The history, the discovery of novel ionic conductors and the story behind them are summarized along with basic science and technology. PMID:28804526

Solid state ionics: a Japan perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yamamoto, Osamu

2017-12-01

The 70-year history of scientific endeavor of solid state ionics research in Japan is reviewed to show the contribution of Japanese scientists to the basic science of solid state ionics and its applications. The term 'solid state ionics' was defined by Takehiko Takahashi of Nagoya University, Japan: it refers to ions in solids, especially solids that exhibit high ionic conductivity at a fairly low temperature below their melting points. During the last few decades of exploration, many ion conducting solids have been discovered in Japan such as the copper-ion conductor Rb4Cu16I7Cl13, proton conductor SrCe1-xYxO3, oxide-ion conductor La0.9Sr0.9Ga0.9Mg0.1O3, and lithium-ion conductor Li10GeP2S12. Rb4Cu16I7Cl13 has a conductivity of 0.33 S cm-1 at 25 °C, which is the highest of all room temperature ion conductive solid electrolytes reported to date, and Li10GeP2S12 has a conductivity of 0.012 S cm-1 at 25 °C, which is the highest among lithium-ion conductors reported to date. Research on high-temperature proton conducting ceramics began in Japan. The history, the discovery of novel ionic conductors and the story behind them are summarized along with basic science and technology.

Ultra-intense laser interaction with specially-designed targets as a source of energetic protons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Psikal, J.; Matys, M.

2017-05-01

In this contribution, we discuss the optimization of laser driven proton acceleration efficiency by nanostructured targets, interpret the experimental results showing the manipulation of proton beam profiles by nanosctructured rear surface of the targets and investigate the acceleration of protons from hydrogen solid ribbon by PW-class lasers, with the help of multidimensional particle-in-cell simulations. Microstructured hollow targets are proposed to enhance the absorption of the laser pulse energy while keeping the target thickness to minimum, which is both favorable for enhanced efficiency of the acceleration of protons. Thin targets with grating structures of various configurations on their rear sides stretch the proton beams in the perpendicular direction to the grating orientation due to transverse electric fields generated inside the target grooves and can reduce the proton beam divergence in the parallel direction to the grating due to a lower density of the stretched beam compared with flat foils. Finally, it is shown that when multiPW laser pulse interacts with hydrogen solid ribbon, hole boring radiation pressure acceleration (RPA) dominates over the target normal sheath acceleration (TNSA).

Gamma rays from pulsar wind shock acceleration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Harding, Alice K.

1990-01-01

A shock forming in the wind of relativistic electron-positron pairs from a pulsar, as a result of confinement by surrounding material, could convert part of the pulsar spin-down luminosity to high energy particles through first order Fermi acceleration. High energy protons could be produced by this mechanism both in supernova remnants and in binary systems containing pulsars. The pion-decay gamma-rays resulting from interaction of accelerated protons with surrounding target material in such sources might be observable above 70 MeV with EGRET (Energetic Gamma-Ray Experimental Telescope) and above 100 GeV with ground-based detectors. Acceleration of protons and expected gamma-ray fluxes from SN1987A, Cyg X-3 type sources and binary pulsars are discussed.

SU-E-T-495: Neutron Induced Electronics Failure Rate Analysis for a Single Room Proton Accelerator

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Knutson, N; DeWees, T; Klein, E

2014-06-01

Purpose: To determine the failure rate as a function of neutron dose of the range modulator's servo motor controller system (SMCS) while shielded with Borated Polyethylene (BPE) and unshielded in a single room proton accelerator. Methods: Two experimental setups were constructed using two servo motor controllers and two motors. Each SMCS was then placed 30 cm from the end of the plugged proton accelerator applicator. The motor was then turned on and observed from outside of the vault while being irradiated to known neutron doses determined from bubble detector measurements. Anytime the motor deviated from the programmed motion a failuremore » was recorded along with the delivered dose. The experiment was repeated using 9 cm of BPE shielding surrounding the SMCS. Results: Ten SMCS failures were recorded in each experiment. The dose per monitor unit for the unshielded SMCS was 0.0211 mSv/MU and 0.0144 mSv/MU for the shielded SMCS. The mean dose to produce a failure for the unshielded SMCS was 63.5 ± 58.3 mSv versus 17.0 ±12.2 mSv for the shielded. The mean number of MUs between failures were 2297 ± 1891 MU for the unshielded SMCS and 2122 ± 1523 MU for the shielded. A Wilcoxon Signed Ranked test showed the dose between failures were significantly different (P value = 0.044) while the number of MUs between failures were not (P value = 1.000). Statistical analysis determined a SMCS neutron dose of 5.3 mSv produces a 5% chance of failure. Depending on the workload and location of the SMCS, this failure rate could impede clinical workflow. Conclusion: BPE shielding was shown to not reduce the average failure of the SMCS and relocation of the system outside of the accelerator vault was required to lower the failure rate enough to avoid impeding clinical work flow.« less

Self-proton/ion radiography of laser-produced proton/ion beam from thin foil targets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Paudel, Y.; Renard-Le Galloudec, N.; Nicolai, Ph.; d'Humieres, E.; Ya. Faenov, A.; Kantsyrev, V. L.; Safronova, A. S.; Shrestha, I.; Osborne, G. C.; Shlyaptseva, V. V.; Sentoku, Y.

2012-12-01

Protons and multicharged ions generated from high-intensity laser interactions with thin foil targets have been studied with a 100 TW laser system. Protons/ions with energies up to 10 MeV are accelerated either from the front or the rear surface of the target material. We have observed for the first time that the protons/ions accelerated from the front surface of the target, in a direction opposite to the laser propagation direction, are turned around and pulled back to the rear surface, in the laser propagation direction. This proton/ion beam is able to create a self-radiograph of the target and glass stalk holding the target itself recorded through the radiochromic film stack. This unique result indicates strong long-living (ns time scale) magnetic fields present in the laser-produced plasma, which are extremely important in energy transport during the intense laser irradiation. The magnetic field from laser main pulse expands rapidly in the preformed plasma to rotate the laser produced protons. Radiation hydrodynamic simulations and ray tracing found that the magnetic field created by the amplified spontaneous emission prepulse is not sufficient to explain the particle trajectories, but the additional field created by the main pulse interaction estimated from particle-in-cell simulation is able to change the particle trajectories.

Radiobiological study by using laser-driven proton beams

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yogo, A.; Sato, K.; Nishikino, M.; Mori, M.; Teshima, T.; Numasaki, H.; Murakami, M.; Demizu, Y.; Akagi, S.; Nagayama, S.; Ogura, K.; Sagisaka, A.; Orimo, S.; Nishiuchi, M.; Pirozhkov, A. S.; Ikegami, M.; Tampo, M.; Sakaki, H.; Suzuki, M.; Daito, I.; Oishi, Y.; Sugiyama, H.; Kiriyama, H.; Okada, H.; Kanazawa, S.; Kondo, S.; Shimomura, T.; Nakai, Y.; Tanoue, M.; Sugiyama, H.; Sasao, H.; Wakai, D.; Kawachi, T.; Nishimura, H.; Bolton, P. R.; Daido, H.

2009-07-01

Particle acceleration driven by high-intensity laser systems is widely attracting interest as a potential alternative to conventional ion acceleration, including ion accelerator applications to tumor therapy. Recent works have shown that a high intensity laser pulse can produce single proton bunches of a high current and a short pulse duration. This unique feature of laser-ion acceleration can lead to progress in the development of novel ion sources. However, there has been no experimental study of the biological effects of laser-driven ion beams. We describe in this report the first demonstrated irradiation effect of laser-accelerated protons on human lung cancer cells. In-vitro A549 cells are irradiated with a proton dose of 20 Gy, resulting in a distinct formation of γ-H2AX foci as an indicator of DNA double-strand breaks. This is a pioneering result that points to future investigations of the radiobiological effects of laser-driven ion beams. The laser-driven ion beam is apotential excitation source for time-resolved determination of hydroxyl (OH) radical yield, which will explore relationship between the fundamental chemical reactions of radiation effects and consequent biological processes.

Accelerator-based BNCT.

PubMed

Kreiner, A J; Baldo, M; Bergueiro, J R; Cartelli, D; Castell, W; Thatar Vento, V; Gomez Asoia, J; Mercuri, D; Padulo, J; Suarez Sandin, J C; Erhardt, J; Kesque, J M; Valda, A A; Debray, M E; Somacal, H R; Igarzabal, M; Minsky, D M; Herrera, M S; Capoulat, M E; Gonzalez, S J; del Grosso, M F; Gagetti, L; Suarez Anzorena, M; Gun, M; Carranza, O

2014-06-01

The activity in accelerator development for accelerator-based BNCT (AB-BNCT) both worldwide and in Argentina is described. Projects in Russia, UK, Italy, Japan, Israel, and Argentina to develop AB-BNCT around different types of accelerators are briefly presented. In particular, the present status and recent progress of the Argentine project will be reviewed. The topics will cover: intense ion sources, accelerator tubes, transport of intense beams, beam diagnostics, the (9)Be(d,n) reaction as a possible neutron source, Beam Shaping Assemblies (BSA), a treatment room, and treatment planning in realistic cases. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Proton therapy in clinical practice

PubMed Central

Liu, Hui; Chang, Joe Y.

2011-01-01

Radiation dose escalation and acceleration improves local control but also increases toxicity. Proton radiation is an emerging therapy for localized cancers that is being sought with increasing frequency by patients. Compared with photon therapy, proton therapy spares more critical structures due to its unique physics. The physical properties of a proton beam make it ideal for clinical applications. By modulating the Bragg peak of protons in energy and time, a conformal radiation dose with or without intensity modulation can be delivered to the target while sparing the surrounding normal tissues. Thus, proton therapy is ideal when organ preservation is a priority. However, protons are more sensitive to organ motion and anatomy changes compared with photons. In this article, we review practical issues of proton therapy, describe its image-guided treatment planning and delivery, discuss clinical outcome for cancer patients, and suggest challenges and the future development of proton therapy. PMID:21527064

Dominance of hole-boring radiation pressure acceleration regime with thin ribbon of ionized solid hydrogen

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Psikal, J.; Matys, M.

2018-04-01

Laser-driven proton acceleration from novel cryogenic hydrogen target of the thickness of tens of microns irradiated by multiPW laser pulse is investigated here for relevant laser parameters accessible in near future. It is demonstrated that the efficiency of proton acceleration from relatively thick hydrogen solid ribbon largely exceeds the acceleration efficiency for a thinner ionized plastic foil, which can be explained by enhanced hole boring (HB) driven by laser ponderomotive force in the case of light ions and lower target density. Three-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations of laser pulse interaction with relatively thick hydrogen target show larger energies of protons accelerated in the target interior during the HB phase and reduced energies of protons accelerated from the rear side of the target by quasistatic electric field compared with the results obtained from two-dimensional PIC calculations. Linearly and circularly polarized multiPW laser pulses of duration exceeding 100 fs show similar performance in terms of proton acceleration from both the target interior as well as from the rear side of the target. When ultrashort pulse (∼30 fs) is assumed, the number of accelerated protons from the target interior is substantially reduced.

Temporal relationship between high-energy proton acceleration and magnetic field changes during solar flares

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kurt, Victoria; Yushkov, Boris

Understanding of the association of the magnetic field evolution in the corona and the temporal evolution of electromagnetic emissions produced by the accelerated particles during a solar flare can provide information about the nature of the energy-release process and its location. Recent high-spatial-resolution observations in HXR, UV and radio emissions allow one to study in detail a structure of two-ribbon flare site. According to these observations, the flare process can be divided into two different intervals with different temporal evolution of morphological structure: loop contraction during impulsive phase and subsequent loop expansion. On the other hand, the appearance of high-energy protons (with energy >300 MeV - an energy threshold of the pion production) in the solar atmosphere can be revealed from an emerging pion-decay component of high-energy gamma-ray emission. The present work is based on comparison of measurements of high-energy gamma-rays performed with the SONG detector onboard the CORONAS-F mission and reported observations of magnetic field evolution, such as HXR foot points (FP) separation and flare shear temporal behavior, or motion of UV/radio loops. We reliably identified the pion-decay component of gamma-ray emission in the course of five events attended with suitable spatial observations, namely, 2001 August 25, 2002 August 24, 2003 October 28, 2003 October 29, and 2005 January 20, and determined its onset time. We found that in these events the pion-decay emission occurred when the distance between conjugated foot-points of flare loops ceased to decrease and began to increase, i.e. changed from shrinkage to expansion. This result leads to the conclusion that the most efficient proton acceleration up to >300 MeV coincided in time with the radical reconfiguration of the magnetic field in the flare site. Earlier we found that the pion-decay emission onset in the 2003 October 28 flare was close to the time of maximum change rate of the

A review of ion sources for medical accelerators (invited)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Muramatsu, M.; Kitagawa, A.

2012-02-15

There are two major medical applications of ion accelerators. One is a production of short-lived isotopes for radionuclide imaging with positron emission tomography and single photon emission computer tomography. Generally, a combination of a source for negative ions (usually H- and/or D-) and a cyclotron is used; this system is well established and distributed over the world. Other important medical application is charged-particle radiotherapy, where the accelerated ion beam itself is being used for patient treatment. Two distinctly different methods are being applied: either with protons or with heavy-ions (mostly carbon ions). Proton radiotherapy for deep-seated tumors has become widespreadmore » since the 1990s. The energy and intensity are typically over 200 MeV and several 10{sup 10} pps, respectively. Cyclotrons as well as synchrotrons are utilized. The ion source for the cyclotron is generally similar to the type for production of radioisotopes. For a synchrotron, one applies a positive ion source in combination with an injector linac. Carbon ion radiotherapy awakens a worldwide interest. About 6000 cancer patients have already been treated with carbon beams from the Heavy Ion Medical Accelerator in Chiba at the National Institute of Radiological Sciences in Japan. These clinical results have clearly verified the advantages of carbon ions. Heidelberg Ion Therapy Center and Gunma University Heavy Ion Medical Center have been successfully launched. Several new facilities are under commissioning or construction. The beam energy is adjusted to the depth of tumors. It is usually between 140 and 430 MeV/u. Although the beam intensity depends on the irradiation method, it is typically several 10{sup 8} or 10{sup 9} pps. Synchrotrons are only utilized for carbon ion radiotherapy. An ECR ion source supplies multi-charged carbon ions for this requirement. Some other medical applications with ion beams attract developer's interests. For example, the several types of

The Acceleration of Thermal Protons and Minor Ions at a Quasi-Parallel Interplanetary Shock

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giacalone, J.; Lario, D.; Lepri, S. T.

2017-12-01

We compare the results from self-consistent hybrid simulations (kinetic ions, massless fluid electrons) and spacecraft observations of a strong, quasi-parallel interplanetary shock that crossed the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) on DOY 94, 2001. In our simulations, the un-shocked plasma-frame ion distributions are Maxwellian. Our simulations include protons and minor ions (alphas, 3He++, and C5+). The interplanetary shock crossed both the ACE and the Wind spacecraft, and was associated with significant increases in the flux of > 50 keV/nuc ions. Our simulation uses parameters (ion densities, magnetic field strength, Mach number, etc.) consistent with those observed. Acceleration of the ions by the shock, in a manner similar to that expected from diffusive shock acceleration theory, leads to a high-energy tail in the distribution of the post-shock plasma for all ions we considered. The simulated distributions are directly compared to those observed by ACE/SWICS, EPAM, and ULEIS, and Wind/STICS and 3DP, covering the energy range from below the thermal peak to the suprathermal tail. We conclude from our study that the solar wind is the most significant source of the high-energy ions for this event. Our results have important implications for the physics of the so-called `injection problem', which will be discussed.

Fast neutron production from lithium converters and laser driven protons

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Storm, M.; Jiang, S.; Wertepny, D.

2013-05-15

Experiments to generate neutrons from the {sup 7}Li(p,n){sup 7}Be reaction with 60 J, 180 fs laser pulses have been performed at the Texas Petawatt Laser Facility at the University of Texas at Austin. The protons were accelerated from the rear surface of a thin target membrane using the target-normal-sheath-acceleration mechanism. The neutrons were generated in nuclear reactions caused by the subsequent proton bombardment of a pure lithium foil of natural isotopic abundance. The neutron energy ranged up to 2.9 MeV. The total yield was estimated to be 1.6 × 10{sup 7} neutrons per steradian. An extreme ultra-violet light camera, usedmore » to image the target rear surface, correlated variations in the proton yield and peak energy to target rear surface ablation. Calculations using the hydrodynamics code FLASH indicated that the ablation resulted from a laser pre-pulse of prolonged intensity. The ablation severely limited the proton acceleration and neutron yield.« less

A high repetition rate transverse beam profile diagnostic for laser-plasma proton sources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dover, Nicholas; Nishiuchi, Mamiko; Sakaki, Hironao; Kando, Masaki; Nishitani, Keita

2016-10-01

The recently upgraded J-KAREN-P laser can provide PW peak power and intensities approaching 1022 Wcm-2 at 0.1 Hz. Scaling of sheath acceleration to such high intensities predicts generation of protons to near 100 MeV, but changes in electron heating mechanisms may affect the emitted proton beam properties, such as divergence and pointing. High repetition rate simultaneous measurement of the transverse proton distribution and energy spectrum are therefore key to understanding and optimising the source. Recently plastic scintillators have been used to measure online proton beam transverse profiles, removing the need for time consuming post-processing. We are therefore developing a scintillator based transverse proton beam profile diagnostic for use in ion acceleration experiments using the J-KAREN-P laser. Differential filtering provides a coarse energy spectrum measurement, and time-gating allows differentiation of protons from other radiation. We will discuss the design and implementation of the diagnostic, as well as proof-of-principle results from initial experiments on the J-KAREN-P system demonstrating the measurement of sheath accelerated proton beams up to 20 MeV.

Proton Improvement Plan II

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fermilab

Fermilab's Proton Improvement Plan II will generate the world’s most powerful high-energy neutrino beam for the international Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment and position Fermilab as the world leader in accelerator-based neutrino research.

Synchrotron Radiation from Ultra-High Energy Protons and the Fermi Observations of GRB 080916C

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-01-01

compared with keV – MeV radiation. Here we show that synchrotron radiation from cosmic ray protons accelerated in GRBs, delayed by the proton synchrotron... cosmic rays from sources within 100 Mpc for nano-Gauss intergalactic magnetic fields. The total energy requirements in a proton synchrotron model are...component arising from cosmic - ray proton synchrotron radiation explains the delayed onset of the LAT emission. If GRBs accelerate UHECRs, then the

Stochastic Particle Acceleration in Impulsive Solar Flares

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Miller, James A.

2001-01-01

The acceleration of a huge number of electrons and ions to relativistic energies over timescales ranging from several seconds to several tens of seconds is the fundamental problem in high-energy solar physics. The cascading turbulence model we have developed has been shown previously (e.g., Miller 2000; Miller & Roberts 1995; Miner, LaRosa, & Moore 1996) to account for all the bulk features (such as acceleration timescales, fluxes, total number of energetic particles, and maximum energies) of electron and proton acceleration in impulsive solar flares. While the simulation of this acceleration process is involved, the essential idea of the model is quite simple, and consists of just a few parts: 1. During the primary flare energy release phase, we assume that low-amplitude MHD Alfven and fast mode waves are excited at long wavelengths, say comparable to the size of the event (although the results are actually insensitive to this initial wavelength). While an assumption, this appears reasonable in light of the likely highly turbulent nature of the flare. 2. These waves then cascade in a Kolmogorov-like fashion to smaller wavelengths (e.g., Verma et al. 1996), forming a power-law spectral density in wavenumber space through the inertial range. 3. When the mean wavenumber of the fast mode waves has increased sufficiently, the transit-time acceleration rate (Miller 1997) for superAlfvenic electrons can overcome Coulomb energy losses, and these electrons are accelerated out of the thermal distribution and to relativistic energies (Miller et al. 1996). As the Alfven waves cascade to higher wavenumbers, they can cyclotron resonate with progressively lower energy protons. Eventually, they will resonate with protons in the tail of the thermal distribution, which will then be accelerated to relativistic energies as well (Miller & Roberts 1995). Hence, both ions and electrons are stochastically accelerated, albeit by different mechanisms and different waves. 4. When the

Electron and Ion Acceleration Associated with Magnetotail Reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liang, Haoming

This dissertation is dedicated to understanding electron and ion acceleration associated with magnetotail reconnection during substorms by using numerical simulations. Electron dynamics were investigated by using the UCLA global magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model and large scale kinetic (LSK) simulations. The neutral line configurations and magnetotail flows modify the amounts of the adiabatic and non-adiabatic acceleration that electrons undergo. This causes marked differences in the temperature anisotropy for different substorms. In particular, one substorm event analyzed shows T⊥ > T∥ (T⊥ / T ∥ ≈ 2.3)at -10RE while another shows T ∥ > T⊥ (T ⊥ / T∥ ≈ 0.8), where T⊥ and T∥ (second order moments of the distribution functions) are defined with respect to the magnetic field. These differences determine the subsequent acceleration of the energetic electrons in the inner magnetosphere. Whether the acceleration is mostly parallel or perpendicular is determined by the location of dayside reconnection. A 2.5D implicit Particle-in-Cell simulation was used to study the effects produced by oxygen ions on magnetotail reconnection, and the associated acceleration of protons and oxygen ions. The inertia of oxygen ions reduces the reconnection rate and slows down the earthward propagation of dipolarization fronts (DFs). An ambipolar electric field in the oxygen diffusion region contributes to the smaller reconnection rate. This change in the reconnection rate affects the ion acceleration. In particular 67% of protons and 58% of oxygen ions were accelerated in the exhaust (between the X-point and the DF) in a simulation corresponding to a magnetic storm in which there was a 50% concentration of oxygen ions. In addition, 42% of lobe oxygen-ions are accelerated locally by the Hall electric field, far away from the X-point without entering the exhaust. Protons at the same locations experience Ex B drift. This finding extends previous knowledge that oxygen and

Are starburst galaxies proton calorimeters?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Xilu; Fields, Brian D.

2018-03-01

Several starburst galaxies have been observed in the GeV and TeV bands. In these dense environments, gamma-ray emission should be dominated by cosmic ray (CR) interactions with the interstellar medium (pcrpism → π0 → γγ). Indeed, starbursts may act as proton `calorimeters' where a substantial fraction of CR energy input is emitted in gamma-rays. Here, we build a one-zone, `thick-target' model implementing calorimetry and placing a firm upper bound on gamma-ray emission from CR interactions. The model assumes that CRs are accelerated by supernovae (SNe), and all suffer nuclear interactions rather than escape. Our model has only two free parameters: the CR proton acceleration energy per SN ɛcr, and the proton injection spectral index s. We calculate the pionic gamma-ray emission from 10 MeV to 10 TeV, and derive thick-target parameters for six galaxies with Fermi, H.E.S.S., and/or VERITAS data. Our model provides good fits for the M82 and NGC 253, and yields ɛcr and s values suggesting that SN CR acceleration is similar in starbursts and in our Galaxy. We find that these starbursts are indeed nearly if not fully proton calorimeters. For NGC 4945 and NGC 1068, the models are consistent with calorimetry but are less well-constrained due to the lack of TeV data. However, the Circinus galaxy and the ultra-luminous infrared galaxy Arp 220 exceed our pionic upper-limit; possible explanations are discussed.

Protons -- The Future of Radiation Therapy?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Avery, Steven

2007-03-01

Cancer is the 2^nd highest cause of death in the United States. The challenges of controlling this disease remain more difficult as the population lives longer. Proton therapy offers another choice in the management of cancer care. Proton therapy has existed since the late 1950s and the first hospital based center in the United States opened in 1990. Since that time four hospital based proton centers are treating patients with other centers either under construction or under consideration. This talk will focus on an introduction to proton therapy: it's medical advantages over current treatment modalities, accelerators and beam delivery systems, applications to clinical radiation oncology and the future outlook for proton therapy.

Apparatus for proton radiography

DOEpatents

Martin, Ronald L.

1976-01-01

An apparatus for effecting diagnostic proton radiography of patients in hospitals comprises a source of negative hydrogen ions, a synchrotron for accelerating the negative hydrogen ions to a predetermined energy, a plurality of stations for stripping extraction of a radiography beam of protons, means for sweeping the extracted beam to cover a target, and means for measuring the residual range, residual energy, or percentage transmission of protons that pass through the target. The combination of information identifying the position of the beam with information about particles traversing the subject and the back absorber is performed with the aid of a computer to provide a proton radiograph of the subject. In an alternate embodiment of the invention, a back absorber comprises a plurality of scintillators which are coupled to detectors.

Use of a wire scanner for monitoring residual gas ionization in Soreq Applied Research Accelerator Facility 20 keV/u proton/deuteron low energy beam transport beam line

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Vainas, B.; Eliyahu, I.; Weissman, L.

2012-02-15

The ion source end of the Soreq Applied Research Accelerator Facility accelerator consists of a proton/deuteron ECR ion source and a low energy beam transport (LEBT) beam line. An observed reduction of the radio frequency quadrupole transmission with increase of the LEBT current prompted additional study of the LEBT beam properties. Numerous measurements have been made with the LEBT bream profiler wire biased by a variable voltage. Current-voltage characteristics in presence of the proton beam were measured even when the wire was far out of the beam. The current-voltage characteristic in this case strongly resembles an asymmetric diodelike characteristic, whichmore » is typical of Langmuir probes monitoring plasma. The measurement of biased wire currents, outside the beam, enables us to estimate the effective charge density in vacuum.« less

Feasibility studies towards future self-sufficient supply of the 99Mo-99mTc isotopes with Japanese accelerators

PubMed Central

NAKAI, Kozi; TAKAHASHI, Naruto; HATAZAWA, Jun; SHINOHARA, Atsushi; HAYASHI, Yoshihiko; IKEDA, Hayato; KANAI, Yasukazu; WATABE, Tadashi; FUKUDA, Mitsuhiro; HATANAKA, Kichiji

2014-01-01

In order to establish a self-sufficient supply of 99mTc, we studied feasibilities to produce its parent nucleus, 99Mo, using Japanese accelerators. The daughter nucleus, 99mTc, is indispensable for medical diagnosis. 99Mo has so far been imported from abroad, which is separated from fission products generated in nuclear reactors using enriched 235U fuel. We investigated 99mTc production possibilities based on the following three scenarios: (1) 99Mo production by the (n, 2n) reaction by spallation neutrons at the J-PARC injector, LINAC; (2) 99Mo production by the (p, pn) reaction at Ep = 50–80 MeV proton at the RCNP cyclotron; (3) 99mTc direct production with a 20 MeV proton beam from the PET cyclotron. Among these three scenarios, scenario (1) is for a scheme on a global scale, scenario (2) works in a local area, and both cases take a long time for negotiations. Scenario (3) is attractive because we can use nearly 50 PET cyclotrons in Japan for 99mTc production. We here consider both the advantages and disadvantages among the three scenarios by taking account of the Japanese accelerator situation. PMID:25504230

Method and apparatus for laser-controlled proton beam radiology

DOEpatents

Johnstone, Carol J.

1998-01-01

A proton beam radiology system provides cancer treatment and proton radiography. The system includes an accelerator for producing an H.sup.- beam and a laser source for generating a laser beam. A photodetachment module is located proximate the periphery of the accelerator. The photodetachment module combines the H.sup.- beam and laser beam to produce a neutral beam therefrom within a subsection of the H.sup.- beam. The photodetachment module emits the neutral beam along a trajectory defined by the laser beam. The photodetachment module includes a stripping foil which forms a proton beam from the neutral beam. The proton beam is delivered to a conveyance segment which transports the proton beam to a patient treatment station. The photodetachment module further includes a laser scanner which moves the laser beam along a path transverse to the cross-section of the H.sup.- beam in order to form the neutral beam in subsections of the H.sup.- beam. As the scanning laser moves across the H.sup.- beam, it similarly varies the trajectory of the proton beam emitted from the photodetachment module and in turn varies the target location of the proton beam upon the patient. Intensity modulation of the proton beam can also be achieved by controlling the output of the laser.

Micro structure processing on plastics by accelerated hydrogen molecular ions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hayashi, H.; Hayakawa, S.; Nishikawa, H.

2017-08-01

A proton has 1836 times the mass of an electron and is the lightest nucleus to be used for accelerator in material modification. We can setup accelerator with the lowest acceleration voltage. It is preferable characteristics of Proton Beam Writer (PBW) for industrial applications. On the contrary ;proton; has the lowest charge among all nuclei and the potential impact to material is lowest. The object of this research is to improve productivity of the PBW for industry application focusing on hydrogen molecular ions. These ions are generated in the same ion source by ionizing hydrogen molecule. There is no specific ion source requested and it is suitable for industrial use. We demonstrated three dimensional (3D) multilevel micro structures on polyester base FPC (Flexible Printed Circuits) using proton, H2+ and H3+. The reactivity of hydrogen molecular ions is much higher than that of proton and coincident with the level of expectation. We can apply this result to make micro devices of 3D multilevel structures on FPC.

Diffuse Galactic gamma rays from shock-accelerated cosmic rays.

PubMed

Dermer, Charles D

2012-08-31

A shock-accelerated particle flux is proportional to p(-s), where p is the particle momentum, follows from simple theoretical considerations of cosmic-ray acceleration at nonrelativistic shocks followed by rigidity-dependent escape into the Galactic halo. A flux of shock-accelerated cosmic-ray protons with s≈2.8 provides an adequate fit to the Fermi Large Area Telescope γ-ray emission spectra of high-latitude and molecular cloud gas when uncertainties in nuclear production models are considered. A break in the spectrum of cosmic-ray protons claimed by Neronov, Semikoz, and Taylor [Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 051105 (2012)] when fitting the γ-ray spectra of high-latitude molecular clouds is a consequence of using a cosmic-ray proton flux described by a power law in kinetic energy.

Multiharmonic rf feedforward system for compensation of beam loading and periodic transient effects in magnetic-alloy cavities of a proton synchrotron

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tamura, Fumihiko; Ohmori, Chihiro; Yamamoto, Masanobu; Yoshii, Masahito; Schnase, Alexander; Nomura, Masahiro; Toda, Makoto; Shimada, Taihei; Hasegawa, Katsushi; Hara, Keigo

2013-05-01

Beam loading compensation is a key for acceleration of a high intensity proton beam in the main ring (MR) of the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC). Magnetic alloy loaded rf cavities with a Q value of 22 are used to achieve high accelerating voltages without a tuning bias loop. The cavity is driven by a single harmonic (h=9) rf signal while the cavity frequency response also covers the neighbor harmonics (h=8,10). Therefore the wake voltage induced by the high intensity beam consists of the three harmonics, h=8,9,10. The beam loading of neighbor harmonics is the source of periodic transient effects and a possible source of coupled bunch instabilities. In the article, we analyze the wake voltage induced by the high intensity beam. We employ the rf feedforward method to compensate the beam loading of these three harmonics (h=8,9,10). The full-digital multiharmonic feedforward system was developed for the MR. We describe the system architecture and the commissioning methodology of the feedforward patterns. The commissioning of the feedforward system has been performed by using high intensity beams with 1.0×1014 proteins per pulse. The impedance seen by the beam is successfully reduced and the longitudinal oscillations due to the beam loading are reduced. By the beam loading compensation, stable high power beam operation is achieved. We also report the reduction of the momentum loss during the debunching process for the slow extraction by the feedforward.

Los Alamos high-power proton linac designs

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lawrence, G.P.

1995-10-01

Medium-energy high-power proton linear accelerators have been studied at Los Alamos as drivers for spallation neutron applications requiring large amounts of beam power. Reference designs for such accelerators are discussed, important design factors are reviewed, and issues and concern specific to this unprecedented power regime are discussed.

Comparison of short-lived medical isotopes activation by laser thin target induced protons and conventional cyclotron proton beams

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murray, Joseph; Dudnikova, Galina; Liu, Tung-Chang; Papadopoulos, Dennis; Sagdeev, Roald; Su, J. J.; UMD MicroPET Team

2014-10-01

Production diagnostic or therapeutic nuclear medicines are either by nuclear reactors or by ion accelerators. In general, diagnostic nuclear radioisotopes have a very short half-life varying from tens of minutes for PET tracers and few hours for SPECT tracers. Thus supplies of PET and SPECT radiotracers are limited by regional production facilities. For example 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) is the most desired tracer for positron emission tomography because its 110 minutes half-life is sufficient long for transport from production facilities to nearby users. From nuclear activation to completing image taking must be done within 4 hours. Decentralized production of diagnostic radioisotopes will be idea to make high specific activity radiotracers available to researches and clinicians. 11 C, 13 N, 15 O and 18 F can be produced in the energy range from 10-20 MeV by protons. Protons of energies up to tens of MeV generated by intense laser interacting with hydrogen containing targets have been demonstrated by many groups in the past decade. We use 2D PIC code for proton acceleration, Geant4 Monte Carlo code for nuclei activation to compare the yields and specific activities of short-lived isotopes produced by cyclotron proton beams and laser driven protons.

Compact accelerator for medical therapy

DOEpatents

Caporaso, George J.; Chen, Yu-Jiuan; Hawkins, Steven A.; Sampayan, Stephen E.; Paul, Arthur C.

2010-05-04

A compact accelerator system having an integrated particle generator-linear accelerator with a compact, small-scale construction capable of producing an energetic (.about.70-250 MeV) proton beam or other nuclei and transporting the beam direction to a medical therapy patient without the need for bending magnets or other hardware often required for remote beam transport. The integrated particle generator-accelerator is actuable as a unitary body on a support structure to enable scanning of a particle beam by direction actuation of the particle generator-accelerator.

Proton-beam writing channel based on an electrostatic accelerator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lapin, A. S.; Rebrov, V. A.; Kolin'ko, S. V.; Salivon, V. F.; Ponomarev, A. G.

2016-09-01

We have described the structure of the proton-beam writing channel as a continuation of a nuclear scanning microprobe channel. The problem of the accuracy of positioning a probe by constructing a new high-frequency electrostatic scanning system has been solved. Special attention has been paid to designing the probe-forming system and its various configurations have been considered. The probe-forming system that best corresponds to the conditions of the lithographic process has been found based on solving the problem of optimizing proton beam formation. A system for controlling beam scanning using multifunctional module of integrated programmable logic systems has been developed.

Measurements of proton energy spectra using a radiochromic film stack

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Filkins, T. M.; Steidle, Jessica; Ellison, D. M.; Steidle, Jeffrey; Freeman, C. G.; Padalino, S. J.; Fiksel, G.; Regan, S. P.; Sangster, T. C.

2014-10-01

The energy spectrum of protons accelerated from the rear-side of a thin foil illuminated with ultra-intense laser light from the OMEGA EP laser system at the University of Rochester's Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE) was measured using a stack of radiochromic film (RCF). The film stack consisted of four layers of Gafchromic HD-V2 film and four layers of Gafchromic MD-V2-55 film. Aluminum foils of various thicknesses were placed between each piece of RCF in the stack. This arrangement allowed protons with energies of 30 MeV to reach the back layer of RCF in the stack. The stack was placed in the detector plane of a Thomson parabola ion energy (TPIE) spectrometer. Each piece of film in the stack was scanned using a commercially available flat-bed scanner (Epson 10000XL). The resulting optical density was converted into proton fluence using an absolute calibration of the RCF obtained at the SUNY Geneseo 1.7 MV Pelletron accelerator laboratory. In these calibration measurements, the sensitivity of the radiochromic film was measured using monoenergetic protons produced by the accelerator. Details of the analysis procedure and the resulting proton energy spectra will be presented. Funded in part by a grant from the DOE through the Laboratory for Laser Energetics.

Hydrogen concentration analysis in clinopyroxene using proton-proton scattering analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weis, Franz A.; Ros, Linus; Reichart, Patrick; Skogby, Henrik; Kristiansson, Per; Dollinger, Günther

2018-02-01

Traditional methods to measure water in nominally anhydrous minerals (NAMs) are, for example, Fourier transformed infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy or secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). Both well-established methods provide a low detection limit as well as high spatial resolution yet may require elaborate sample orientation or destructive sample preparation. Here we analyze the water content in erupted volcanic clinopyroxene phenocrysts by proton-proton scattering and reproduce water contents measured by FTIR spectroscopy. We show that this technique provides significant advantages over other methods as it can provide a three-dimensional distribution of hydrogen within a crystal, making the identification of potential inclusions possible as well as elimination of surface contamination. The sample analysis is also independent of crystal structure and orientation and independent of matrix effects other than sample density. The results are used to validate the accuracy of wavenumber-dependent vs. mineral-specific molar absorption coefficients in FTIR spectroscopy. In addition, we present a new method for the sample preparation of very thin crystals suitable for proton-proton scattering analysis using relatively low accelerator potentials.

Development of a MeV proton beam irradiation system.

PubMed

Park, Bum-Sik; Cho, Yong-Sub; Hong, In-Seok

2008-02-01

A proton beam irradiation system for the application of the MeV class proton beam, such as an implantation for a power semiconductor device and a smart-cut technology for a semiconductor production process, has been developed. This system consists of a negative ion source, an Einzel lens for a low energy beam transport, accelerating tubes, a gas stripper, a Cockroft-Walton high voltage power supply with 1 MV, a vacuum pumping system, and a high pressure insulating gas system. The negative hydrogen ion source is based on TRIUMF's design. Following the tandem accelerator, a pair of magnets is installed for raster scanning of the MeV proton beam to obtain a uniform irradiation pattern on the target. The system is 7 m long from the ion source to the target and is optimized for the proton beam irradiation. The details of the system development will be described.

Determining beam parameters in a storage ring with a cylindrical hodoscope using elastic proton proton scattering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rohdjeß, H.; Albers, D.; Bisplinghoff, J.; Bollmann, R.; Büßer, K.; Diehl, O.; Dohrmann, F.; Engelhardt, H.-P.; Eversheim, P. D.; Gasthuber, M.; Greiff, J.; Groß, A.; Groß-Hardt, R.; Hinterberger, F.; Igelbrink, M.; Langkau, R.; Maier, R.; Mosel, F.; Müller, M.; Münstermann, M.; Prasuhn, D.; von Rossen, P.; Scheid, H.; Schirm, N.; Schwandt, F.; Scobel, W.; Trelle, H. J.; Wellinghausen, A.; Wiedmann, W.; Woller, K.; Ziegler, R.

2006-01-01

The EDDA-detector at the cooler-synchrotron COSY/Jülich has been operated with an internal CH2 fiber target to measure proton-proton elastic scattering differential cross-sections. For data analysis knowledge of beam parameters, like position, width and angle, are indispensable. We have developed a method to obtain these values with high precision from the azimuthal and polar angles of the ejectiles only, by exploiting the coplanarity of the two final-state protons with the beam and the kinematic correlation. The formalism is described and results for beam parameters obtained during beam acceleration are given.

2.5 dimension structures in deep proton lithography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kasztelanic, Rafal

2006-04-01

There are several technologies for cheap mass fabrication of microelements. One of them is deep proton lithography, used for the fabrication of elements of high structural depth. In this technology, accelerated protons are usually focused or formed by a mask to light a target. The energy of the proton beam is enough for all the protons to get through the target, losing only a part of their kinesthetic energy. Protons leaving the target are counted in various ways, thanks to which it is possible to estimate the energy deposed inside the target. In the next step chemical development is used to get rid of the radiated part of the target. With the use of this method, various 2D microelements can be obtained and the proton beam plays the role of a knife, cutting out the required shapes from the material. However, in order to make elements of modified surface (2.5D surface) it is necessary to change the energy of the proton beam or to change the dose deposed inside the material. The current article presents a proposal of creating simple 2.5D structures with the use of the method modifying the deposed does. This entails the modification of the deep proton lithography setup, which results moving the part for measuring the deposed dose of energy before the target. Additionally, the new deep proton lithography setup operates in the air. This article presents the results of simulations, as well as experimental results for such a setup built for the tandem accelerator in Erlangen, Germany.

Method and apparatus for laser-controlled proton beam radiology

DOEpatents

Johnstone, C.J.

1998-06-02

A proton beam radiology system provides cancer treatment and proton radiography. The system includes an accelerator for producing an H{sup {minus}} beam and a laser source for generating a laser beam. A photodetachment module is located proximate the periphery of the accelerator. The photodetachment module combines the H{sup {minus}} beam and laser beam to produce a neutral beam therefrom within a subsection of the H{sup {minus}} beam. The photodetachment module emits the neutral beam along a trajectory defined by the laser beam. The photodetachment module includes a stripping foil which forms a proton beam from the neutral beam. The proton beam is delivered to a conveyance segment which transports the proton beam to a patient treatment station. The photodetachment module further includes a laser scanner which moves the laser beam along a path transverse to the cross-section of the H{sup {minus}} beam in order to form the neutral beam in subsections of the H{sup {minus}} beam. As the scanning laser moves across the H{sup {minus}} beam, it similarly varies the trajectory of the proton beam emitted from the photodetachment module and in turn varies the target location of the proton beam upon the patient. Intensity modulation of the proton beam can also be achieved by controlling the output of the laser. 9 figs.

Enhanced proton acceleration by intense laser interaction with an inverse cone target

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bake, Muhammad Ali; Aimidula, Aimierding; Xiaerding, Fuerkaiti; Rashidin, Reyima

2016-08-01

The generation and control of high-quality proton bunches using focused intense laser pulse on an inverse cone target is investigated with a set of particle-in-cell simulations. The inverse cone is a high atomic number conical frustum with a thin solid top and open base, where the laser impinges onto the top surface directly, not down the open end of the cone. Results are compared with a simple planar target, where the proton angular distribution is very broad because of transverse divergence of the electromagnetic fields behind the target. For a conical target, hot electrons along the cone wall surface induce a transverse focusing sheath field. This field can effectively suppress the spatial spreading of the protons, resulting in a high-quality small-emittance, low-divergence proton beam. A slightly lower proton beam peak energy than that of a conventional planar target was also found.

Noninvasive detection of nanoparticle clustering by water proton NMR

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Taraban, Marc B.; Truong, Huy C.; Ilavsky, Jan

It is shown that water proton NMR can detect uncontrolled clustering of inert nanoparticles (NPs) formulated as aqueous suspensions. The clustering of NPs causes the compartmentalization of water molecules, leading to accelerated proton spin de-coherence, and hence, much faster water transverse relaxation rates. The results suggest that water proton NMR can be used to noninvasively inspect NP products by commercial end users and researchers.

Initial experimental evidence of self-collimation of target-normal-sheath-accelerated proton beam in a stack of conducting foils

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ni, P. A.; Lund, S. M.; McGuffey, C.; Alexander, N.; Aurand, B.; Barnard, J. J.; Beg, F. N.; Bellei, C.; Bieniosek, F. M.; Brabetz, C.; Cohen, R. H.; Kim, J.; Neumayer, P.; Roth, M.; Logan, B. G.

2013-08-01

Phenomena consistent with self-collimation (or weak self-focusing) of laser target-normal-sheath-accelerated protons was experimentally observed for the first time, in a specially engineered structure ("lens") consisting of a stack of 300 thin aluminum foils separated by 50 μm vacuum gaps. The experiments were carried out in a "passive environment," i.e., no external fields applied, neutralization plasma or injection of secondary charged particles was imposed. Experiments were performed at the petawatt "PHELIX" laser user facility (E = 100 J, Δt = 400 fs, λ = 1062 nm) at the "Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung-GSI" in Darmstadt, Germany. The observed rms beam spot reduction depends inversely on energy, with a focusing degree decreasing monotonically from 2 at 5.4 MeV to 1.5 at 18.7 MeV. The physics inside the lens is complex, resulting in a number of different mechanisms that can potentially affect the particle dynamics within the structure. We present a plausible simple interpretation of the experiment in which the combination of magnetic self-pinch forces generated by the beam current together with the simultaneous reduction of the repulsive electrostatic forces due to the foils are the dominant mechanisms responsible for the observed focusing/collimation. This focusing technique could be applied to a wide variety of space-charge dominated proton and heavy ion beams and impact fields and applications, such as HEDP science, inertial confinement fusion in both fast ignition and heavy ion fusion approaches, compact laser-driven injectors for a Linear Accelerator (LINAC) or synchrotron, medical therapy, materials processing, etc.

BINP accelerator based epithermal neutron source.

PubMed

Aleynik, V; Burdakov, A; Davydenko, V; Ivanov, A; Kanygin, V; Kuznetsov, A; Makarov, A; Sorokin, I; Taskaev, S

2011-12-01

Innovative facility for neutron capture therapy has been built at BINP. This facility is based on compact vacuum insulation tandem accelerator designed to produce proton current up to 10 mA. Epithermal neutrons are proposed to be generated by 1.915-2.5 MeV protons bombarding a lithium target using (7)Li(p,n)(7)Be threshold reaction. In the article, diagnostic techniques for proton beam and neutrons developed are described, results of experiments on proton beam transport and neutron generation are shown, discussed, and plans are presented. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The accelerator neutron source for boron neutron capture therapy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kasatov, D.; Koshkarev, A.; Kuznetsov, A.; Makarov, A.; Ostreinov, Yu; Shchudlo, I.; Sorokin, I.; Sycheva, T.; Taskaev, S.; Zaidi, L.

2016-11-01

The accelerator based epithermal neutron source for Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) is proposed, created and used in the Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics. In 2014, with the support of the Russian Science Foundation created the BNCT laboratory for the purpose to the end of 2016 get the neutron flux, suitable for BNCT. For getting 3 mA 2.3 MeV proton beam, was created a new type accelerator - tandem accelerator with vacuum isolation. On this moment, we have a stationary proton beam with 2.3 MeV and current 1.75 mA. Generation of neutrons is carried out by dropping proton beam on to lithium target as a result of threshold reaction 7Li(p,n)7Be. Established facility is a unique scientific installation. It provides a generating of neutron flux, including a monochromatic energy neutrons, gamma radiation, alpha-particles and positrons, and may be used by other research groups for carrying out scientific researches. The article describes an accelerator neutron source, presents and discusses the result of experiments and declares future plans.

Enhanced proton acceleration by intense laser interaction with an inverse cone target

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bake, Muhammad Ali; Aimidula, Aimierding, E-mail: amir@mail.bnu.edu.cn; Xiaerding, Fuerkaiti

The generation and control of high-quality proton bunches using focused intense laser pulse on an inverse cone target is investigated with a set of particle-in-cell simulations. The inverse cone is a high atomic number conical frustum with a thin solid top and open base, where the laser impinges onto the top surface directly, not down the open end of the cone. Results are compared with a simple planar target, where the proton angular distribution is very broad because of transverse divergence of the electromagnetic fields behind the target. For a conical target, hot electrons along the cone wall surface inducemore » a transverse focusing sheath field. This field can effectively suppress the spatial spreading of the protons, resulting in a high-quality small-emittance, low-divergence proton beam. A slightly lower proton beam peak energy than that of a conventional planar target was also found.« less

The role of accelerators in the nuclear fuel cycle

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Takahashi, Hiroshi.

1990-01-01

The use of neutrons produced by the medium energy proton accelerator (1 GeV--3 GeV) has considerable potential in reconstructing the nuclear fuel cycle. About 1.5 {approximately} 2.5 ton of fissile material can be produced annually by injecting a 450 MW proton beam directly into fertile materials. A source of neutrons, produced by a proton beam, to supply subcritical reactors could alleviate many of the safety problems associated with critical assemblies, such as positive reactivity coefficients due to coolant voiding. The transient power of the target can be swiftly controlled by controlling the power of the proton beam. Also, the usemore » of a proton beam would allow more flexibility in the choice of fuel and structural materials which otherwise might reduce the reactivity of reactors. This paper discusses the rate of accelerators in the transmutation of radioactive wastes of the nuclear fuel cycles. 34 refs., 17 figs., 9 tabs.« less

Accelerated proton echo planar spectroscopic imaging (PEPSI) using GRAPPA with a 32-channel phased-array coil.

PubMed

Tsai, Shang-Yueh; Otazo, Ricardo; Posse, Stefan; Lin, Yi-Ru; Chung, Hsiao-Wen; Wald, Lawrence L; Wiggins, Graham C; Lin, Fa-Hsuan

2008-05-01

Parallel imaging has been demonstrated to reduce the encoding time of MR spectroscopic imaging (MRSI). Here we investigate up to 5-fold acceleration of 2D proton echo planar spectroscopic imaging (PEPSI) at 3T using generalized autocalibrating partial parallel acquisition (GRAPPA) with a 32-channel coil array, 1.5 cm(3) voxel size, TR/TE of 15/2000 ms, and 2.1 Hz spectral resolution. Compared to an 8-channel array, the smaller RF coil elements in this 32-channel array provided a 3.1-fold and 2.8-fold increase in signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in the peripheral region and the central region, respectively, and more spatial modulated information. Comparison of sensitivity-encoding (SENSE) and GRAPPA reconstruction using an 8-channel array showed that both methods yielded similar quantitative metabolite measures (P > 0.1). Concentration values of N-acetyl-aspartate (NAA), total creatine (tCr), choline (Cho), myo-inositol (mI), and the sum of glutamate and glutamine (Glx) for both methods were consistent with previous studies. Using the 32-channel array coil the mean Cramer-Rao lower bounds (CRLB) were less than 8% for NAA, tCr, and Cho and less than 15% for mI and Glx at 2-fold acceleration. At 4-fold acceleration the mean CRLB for NAA, tCr, and Cho was less than 11%. In conclusion, the use of a 32-channel coil array and GRAPPA reconstruction can significantly reduce the measurement time for mapping brain metabolites. (c) 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Proton-proton elastic scattering excitation functions at intermediate energies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rohdjess, H.

1998-05-01

Polarized and unpolarized proton-proton elastic scattering is investigated with the EDDA-experiment at the Cooler Synchrotron COSY at Jülich to significantly improve the world data base in the beam energy range 500-2500 MeV. Measurements during beam acceleration with thin internal targets and a large acceptance detector provide excitation functions over a broad angular and energy range with unprecedented internal consistency. Data taking with an unpolarized CH2 fiber target and an unpolarized beam have been completed and the derived differential cross sections are presented and compared to a recent phase shift analysis. With a polarized atomic beam target newly installed in COSY and a polarized COSY beam—currently under development—the measurements will be extended to analyzing powers and spin correlation parameters.

Incident angle dependence of proton response of CR-39 (TS-16) track detector

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Oda, K.; Csige, I.; Yamauchi, T.; Miyake, H.; Benton, E. V.

1993-01-01

The proton response of the TS-16 type of CR-39 plastic nuclear track detector has been studied with accelerated and fast neutron induced protons in vacuum and in air. The diameters of etched tracks were measured as a function of etching time and the etch rate ratio and the etch induction layer were determined from the growth curve of the diameter using a variable etch rate ratio model. In the case of the accelerated protons in vacuum an anomalous incident angle dependence of the response is observed.

Characteristics of four SPE groups with different origins and acceleration processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, R.-S.; Cho, K.-S.; Lee, J.; Bong, S.-C.; Joshi, A. D.; Park, Y.-D.

2015-09-01

Solar proton events (SPEs) can be categorized into four groups based on their associations with flare or CME inferred from onset timings as well as acceleration patterns using multienergy observations. In this study, we have investigated whether there are any typical characteristics of associated events and acceleration sites in each group using 42 SPEs from 1997 to 2012. We find the following: (i) if the proton acceleration starts from a lower energy, a SPE has a higher chance to be a strong event (> 5000 particle flux per unit (pfu)) even if its associated flare and/or CME are not so strong. The only difference between the SPEs associated with flare and CME is the location of the acceleration site. (ii) For the former (Group A), the sites are very low (˜ 1 Rs) and close to the western limb, while the latter (Group C) have relatively higher (mean = 6.05 Rs) and wider acceleration sites. (iii) When the proton acceleration starts from the higher energy (Group B), a SPE tends to be a relatively weak event (< 1000 pfu), although its associated CME is relatively stronger than previous groups. (iv) The SPEs categorized by the simultaneous acceleration in whole energy range within 10 min (Group D) tend to show the weakest proton flux (mean = 327 pfu) in spite of strong associated eruptions. Based on those results, we suggest that the different characteristics of SPEs are mainly due to the different conditions of magnetic connectivity and particle density, which are changed with longitude and height as well as their origin.

Marshak Lectureship: The Turkish Accelerator Center, TAC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yavas, Omer

2012-02-01

The Turkish Accelerator Center (TAC) project is comprised of five different electron and proton accelerator complexes, to be built over 15 years, with a phased approach. The Turkish Government funds the project. Currently there are 23 Universities in Turkey associated with the TAC project. The current funded project, which is to run until 2013 aims *To establish a superconducting linac based infra-red free electron laser and Bremsstrahlung Facility (TARLA) at the Golbasi Campus of Ankara University, *To establish the Institute of Accelerator Technologies in Ankara University, and *To complete the Technical Design Report of TAC. The proposed facilities are a 3^rd generation Synchrotron Radiation facility, SASE-FEL facility, a GeV scale Proton Accelerator facility and an electron-positron collider as a super charm factory. In this talk, an overview on the general status and road map of TAC project will be given. National and regional importance of TAC will be expressed and the structure of national and internatonal collaborations will be explained.

The Energy Efficiency of High Intensity Proton Driver Concepts

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yakovlev, Vyacheslav; Grillenberger, Joachim; Kim, Sang-Ho

2017-05-01

For MW class proton driver accelerators the energy efficiency is an important aspect; the talk reviews the efficiency of different accelerator concepts including s.c./n.c. linac, rapid cycling synchrotron, cyclotron; the potential of these concepts for very high beam power is discussed.

Accelerated prompt gamma estimation for clinical proton therapy simulations.

PubMed

Huisman, Brent F B; Létang, J M; Testa, É; Sarrut, D

2016-11-07

There is interest in the particle therapy community in using prompt gammas (PGs), a natural byproduct of particle treatment, for range verification and eventually dose control. However, PG production is a rare process and therefore estimation of PGs exiting a patient during a proton treatment plan executed by a Monte Carlo (MC) simulation converges slowly. Recently, different approaches to accelerating the estimation of PG yield have been presented. Sterpin et al (2015 Phys. Med. Biol. 60 4915-46) described a fast analytic method, which is still sensitive to heterogeneities. El Kanawati et al (2015 Phys. Med. Biol. 60 8067-86) described a variance reduction method (pgTLE) that accelerates the PG estimation by precomputing PG production probabilities as a function of energy and target materials, but has as a drawback that the proposed method is limited to analytical phantoms. We present a two-stage variance reduction method, named voxelized pgTLE (vpgTLE), that extends pgTLE to voxelized volumes. As a preliminary step, PG production probabilities are precomputed once and stored in a database. In stage 1, we simulate the interactions between the treatment plan and the patient CT with low statistic MC to obtain the spatial and spectral distribution of the PGs. As primary particles are propagated throughout the patient CT, the PG yields are computed in each voxel from the initial database, as a function of the current energy of the primary, the material in the voxel and the step length. The result is a voxelized image of PG yield, normalized to a single primary. The second stage uses this intermediate PG image as a source to generate and propagate the number of PGs throughout the rest of the scene geometry, e.g. into a detection device, corresponding to the number of primaries desired. We achieved a gain of around 10 3 for both a geometrical heterogeneous phantom and a complete patient CT treatment plan with respect to analog MC, at a convergence level of 2% relative

Accelerated prompt gamma estimation for clinical proton therapy simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huisman, Brent F. B.; Létang, J. M.; Testa, É.; Sarrut, D.

2016-11-01

There is interest in the particle therapy community in using prompt gammas (PGs), a natural byproduct of particle treatment, for range verification and eventually dose control. However, PG production is a rare process and therefore estimation of PGs exiting a patient during a proton treatment plan executed by a Monte Carlo (MC) simulation converges slowly. Recently, different approaches to accelerating the estimation of PG yield have been presented. Sterpin et al (2015 Phys. Med. Biol. 60 4915-46) described a fast analytic method, which is still sensitive to heterogeneities. El Kanawati et al (2015 Phys. Med. Biol. 60 8067-86) described a variance reduction method (pgTLE) that accelerates the PG estimation by precomputing PG production probabilities as a function of energy and target materials, but has as a drawback that the proposed method is limited to analytical phantoms. We present a two-stage variance reduction method, named voxelized pgTLE (vpgTLE), that extends pgTLE to voxelized volumes. As a preliminary step, PG production probabilities are precomputed once and stored in a database. In stage 1, we simulate the interactions between the treatment plan and the patient CT with low statistic MC to obtain the spatial and spectral distribution of the PGs. As primary particles are propagated throughout the patient CT, the PG yields are computed in each voxel from the initial database, as a function of the current energy of the primary, the material in the voxel and the step length. The result is a voxelized image of PG yield, normalized to a single primary. The second stage uses this intermediate PG image as a source to generate and propagate the number of PGs throughout the rest of the scene geometry, e.g. into a detection device, corresponding to the number of primaries desired. We achieved a gain of around 103 for both a geometrical heterogeneous phantom and a complete patient CT treatment plan with respect to analog MC, at a convergence level of 2% relative

Emission of energetic protons from relativistic intensity laser interaction with a cone-wire target.

PubMed

Paradkar, B S; Yabuuchi, T; Sawada, H; Higginson, D P; Link, A; Wei, M S; Stephens, R B; Krasheninnikov, S I; Beg, F N

2012-11-01

Emission of energetic protons (maximum energy ∼18 MeV) from the interaction of relativistic intensity laser with a cone-wire target is experimentally measured and numerically simulated with hybrid particle-in-cell code, lsp [D. R. Welch et al., Phys. Plasmas 13, 063105 (2006)]. The protons originate from the wire attached to the cone after the OMEGA EP laser (670 J, 10 ps, 5 × 10^{18} W/cm^{2}) deposits its energy inside the cone. These protons are accelerated from the contaminant layer on the wire surface, and are measured in the radial direction, i.e., in a direction transverse to the wire length. Simulations show that the radial electric field, responsible for the proton acceleration, is excited by three factors, viz., (i) transverse momentum of the relativistic fast electrons beam entering into the wire, (ii) scattering of electrons inside the wire, and (iii) refluxing of escaped electrons by "fountain effect" at the end of the wire. The underlying physics of radial electric field and acceleration of protons is discussed.

CLASHING BEAM PARTICLE ACCELERATOR

DOEpatents

Burleigh, R.J.

1961-04-11

A charged-particle accelerator of the proton synchrotron class having means for simultaneously accelerating two separate contra-rotating particle beams within a single annular magnet structure is reported. The magnet provides two concentric circular field regions of opposite magnetic polarity with one field region being of slightly less diameter than the other. The accelerator includes a deflector means straddling the two particle orbits and acting to collide the two particle beams after each has been accelerated to a desired energy. The deflector has the further property of returning particles which do not undergo collision to the regular orbits whereby the particles recirculate with the possibility of colliding upon subsequent passages through the deflector.

Psychohistorical Hypotheses on Japan's History of Hostility Towards China.

PubMed

Wang, Bo; Rudmin, Floyd

2016-01-01

The accelerating tensions and military posturing between Japan and China have created a serious crisis with a danger of a catastrophic war. The purpose of this paper is to summarize the events of the current crisis, and to put it in the context of Japan's long history of hostility to China and repeated attempts at conquest. The historical record shows that Japan has attacked China at least seven times, even though China has never attacked Japan. The irrationality of Japan's behavior is demonstrated by the repetition of this hostile behavior despite the enormous human and economic costs that Japan has suffered because of it. The irrationality of Japan's militarism suggests that psychological explanations may be required to understand this phenomenon. Several hypotheses are proposed, including 1) projected paranoid aggression, 2) collective Zeigarnik compulsion, 3) perceived weakness exciting aggression, 4) national inferiority feelings, 5) cultural narcissism, and 6) Oedipal-like hatred of a parent culture.

Acceleration of polarized protons to 22 GeV/c and the measurement of spin-spin effects in p/sub up-arrow/+p/sub up-arrow/. -->. p+p

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Khiari, F.Z.; Cameron, P.R.; Court, G.R.

1989-01-01

Accelerating polarized protons to 22 GeV/c at the Brookhaven Alternating Gradient Synchro- tron required both extensive hardware modifications and a difficult commissioning process. We had to overcome 45 strong depolarizing resonances to maintain polarization up to 22 GeV/c in this strong-focusing synchrotron. At 18.5 GeV/c we measured the analyzing power A and the spin-spin correlation parameter A/sub n//sub n/ in large- P/sub perpendicular//sup 2/ proton-proton elastic scattering, using the polarized proton beam and a polarized proton target. We also obtained a high-precision measurement of A at P/sub perpendicular//sup 2/ = 0.3 (GeV/c)/sup 2/ at 13.3 GeV/c. At 18.5 GeV/c wemore » found that A/sub n//sub n/ = (-2 +- 16)% at P/sub perpendicular//sup 2/ = 4.7 (GeV/c)/sup 2/, where it was about 60% near 12 GeV at the Argonne Zero Gradient Synchrotron. This sharp change suggests that spin-spin forces may have a strong and unexpected energy dependence at high P/sub perpendicular//sup 2/.« less

Simon van der Meer (1925-2011):. A Modest Genius of Accelerator Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chohan, Vinod C.

2011-02-01

Simon van der Meer was a brilliant scientist and a true giant of accelerator science. His seminal contributions to accelerator science have been essential to this day in our quest for satisfying the demands of modern particle physics. Whether we talk of long base-line neutrino physics or antiproton-proton physics at Fermilab or proton-proton physics at LHC, his techniques and inventions have been a vital part of the modern day successes. Simon van der Meer and Carlo Rubbia were the first CERN scientists to become Nobel laureates in Physics, in 1984. Van der Meer's lesserknown contributions spanned a whole range of subjects in accelerator science, from magnet design to power supply design, beam measurements, slow beam extraction, sophisticated programs and controls.

Laser-ion accelerators: State-of-the-art and scaling laws

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Borghesi, M.; Kar, S.; Margarone, D.

2013-07-26

A significant amount of experimental work has been devoted over the last decade to the development and optimization of proton acceleration based on the so-called Target Normal Sheath acceleration mechanism. Several studies have been dedicated to the determination of scaling laws for the maximum energy of the protons as a function of the parameters of the irradiating pulses, studies based on experimental results and on models of the acceleration process. We briefly summarize the state of the art in this area, and review some of the scaling studies presented in the literature. We also discuss some recent results, and projectedmore » scalings, related to a different acceleration mechanism for ions, based on the Radiation Pressure of an ultraintense laser pulse.« less

Accelerating gradient improvement using shape-tailor laser front in radiation pressure acceleration progress

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, W. P.; Shen, B. F.; Xu, Z. Z.

2017-05-01

The accelerating gradient of a proton beam is crucial for stable radiation pressure acceleration (RPA) because the multi-dimensional instabilities increase γ times slower in the relativistic region. In this paper, a shape-tailored laser is proposed to significantly accelerate the ions in a controllable high accelerating gradient. In this method, the fastest ions initially rest in the middle of the foil are controlled to catch the compressed electron layer at the end of the hole-boring stage, thus the light-sail stage can start as soon as possible. Then the compressed electron layer is accelerated tightly together with the fastest ions by the shaped laser intensity, which further increases the accelerating gradient in the light-sail stage. Such tailored pulse may be beneficial for the RPA driven by the 10-fs 10 petawatt laser in the future.

[Why proton therapy? And how?

PubMed

Thariat, Juliette; Habrand, Jean Louis; Lesueur, Paul; Chaikh, Abdulhamid; Kammerer, Emmanuel; Lecomte, Delphine; Batalla, Alain; Balosso, Jacques; Tessonnier, Thomas

2018-03-01

Proton therapy is a radiotherapy, based on the use of protons, charged subatomic particles that stop at a given depth depending on their initial energy (pristine Bragg peak), avoiding any output beam, unlike the photons used in most of the other modalities of radiotherapy. Proton therapy has been used for 60 years, but has only become ubiquitous in the last decade because of recent major advances in particle accelerator technology. This article reviews the history of clinical implementation of protons, the nature of the technological advances that now allows its expansion at a lower cost. It also addresses the technical and physical specificities of proton therapy and the clinical situations for which proton therapy may be relevant but requires evidence. Different proton therapy techniques are possible. These are explained in terms of their clinical potential by explaining the current terminology (such as cyclotrons, synchrotrons or synchrocyclotrons, using superconducting magnets, fixed line or arm rotary with passive diffusion delivery or active by scanning) in basic words. The requirements associated with proton therapy are increased due to the precision of the depth dose deposit. The learning curve of proton therapy requires that clinical indications be prioritized according to their associated uncertainties (such as range uncertainties and movement in lung tumors). Many clinical indications potentially fall under proton therapy ultimately. Clinical strategies are explained in a paralleled manuscript. Copyright © 2018 Société Française du Cancer. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Accelerator tube construction and characterization for a tandem-electrostatic-quadrupole for accelerator-based boron neutron capture therapy.

PubMed

Cartelli, D; Vento, V Thatar; Castell, W; Di Paolo, H; Kesque, J M; Bergueiro, J; Valda, A A; Erhardt, J; Kreiner, A J

2011-12-01

The accelerator tubes are essential components of the accelerator. Their function is to transport and accelerate a very intense proton or deuteron beam through the machine, from the ion source to the neutron production target, without significant losses. In this contribution, we discuss materials selected for the tube construction, the procedures used for their assembly and the testing performed to meet the stringent requirements to which it is subjected. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Helium-3 and helium-4 acceleration by high power laser pulses for hadron therapy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bulanov, S. S.; Esarey, E.; Schroeder, C. B.

The laser driven acceleration of ions is considered a promising candidate for an ion source for hadron therapy of oncological diseases. Though proton and carbon ion sources are conventionally used for therapy, other light ions can also be utilized. Whereas carbon ions require 400 MeV per nucleon to reach the same penetration depth as 250 MeV protons, helium ions require only 250 MeV per nucleon, which is the lowest energy per nucleon among the light ions (heavier than protons). This fact along with the larger biological damage to cancer cells achieved by helium ions, than that by protons, makes thismore » species an interesting candidate for the laser driven ion source. Two mechanisms (magnetic vortex acceleration and hole-boring radiation pressure acceleration) of PW-class laser driven ion acceleration from liquid and gaseous helium targets are studied with the goal of producing 250 MeV per nucleon helium ion beams that meet the hadron therapy requirements. We show that He3 ions, having almost the same penetration depth as He4 with the same energy per nucleon, require less laser power to be accelerated to the required energy for the hadron therapy.« less

Helium-3 and helium-4 acceleration by high power laser pulses for hadron therapy

DOE PAGES

Bulanov, S. S.; Esarey, E.; Schroeder, C. B.; ...

2015-06-24

The laser driven acceleration of ions is considered a promising candidate for an ion source for hadron therapy of oncological diseases. Though proton and carbon ion sources are conventionally used for therapy, other light ions can also be utilized. Whereas carbon ions require 400 MeV per nucleon to reach the same penetration depth as 250 MeV protons, helium ions require only 250 MeV per nucleon, which is the lowest energy per nucleon among the light ions (heavier than protons). This fact along with the larger biological damage to cancer cells achieved by helium ions, than that by protons, makes thismore » species an interesting candidate for the laser driven ion source. Two mechanisms (magnetic vortex acceleration and hole-boring radiation pressure acceleration) of PW-class laser driven ion acceleration from liquid and gaseous helium targets are studied with the goal of producing 250 MeV per nucleon helium ion beams that meet the hadron therapy requirements. We show that He3 ions, having almost the same penetration depth as He4 with the same energy per nucleon, require less laser power to be accelerated to the required energy for the hadron therapy.« less

Estimated cause of extreme acceleration records at the KiK-net IWTH25 station during the 2008 Iwate-Miyagi Nairiku earthquake, Japan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ohmachi, Tatsuo; Inoue, Shusaku; Mizuno, Ken-Ichi; Yamada, Masato

During the 2008 Iwate-Miyagi Nairiku earthquake in Japan (MJ =7.2), extremely high accelerations were recorded at the KiK-net IWTH25 (Ichinoseki-nishi) station. The peak acceleration in the vertical component of the surface record was about 4 g where g is acceleration due to gravity, and the upward acceleration in the surface record was much larger than the downward acceleration. Some researchers have suggested that the ground surface was tossed into the air like a body on a trampoline. However, additional features found in the surface record suggest rocking motion accompanied with downward impact of the station with the ground. For example, there are many vertical peaks that can be found to occur at the same time as the horizontal peaks. After obtaining information about the station, in-situ investigations, shake-table experiments, and numerical simulations were conducted to determine the fundamental characteristics of the rocking motion and to reproduce the acceleration time histories of the surface record by using the bore-hole record at a depth of 260 m as the input motion. Prior to the numerical simulation, the wave velocities of subsurface layers were evaluated from Fourier spectra of both records, which showed that the velocities were reduced considerably during the main shock. A 2-D FEM code capable of handling separation and impact between the elements was used for the numerical simulation. Simulation results are shown in Figs. 17 and 18 indicating the impact between the IWTH25 station and the ground at around 4 sec when the acceleration in the vertical direction was about 4 g. Three kinds of acceleration time histories are shown with fairly good agreement between the simulated and observed time histories, suggesting the influence of the station is included in the record. It is also indicated that the vertical acceleration at the free surface without the influence of the IWTH25 station is about 1.6 g.

Design and optimization of a compact laser-driven proton beamline.

PubMed

Scisciò, M; Migliorati, M; Palumbo, L; Antici, P

2018-04-19

Laser-accelerated protons, generated by irradiating a solid target with a short, energetic laser pulse at high intensity (I > 10 18  W·cm -2 ), represent a complementary if not outperforming source compared to conventional accelerators, due  to their intrinsic features, such as high beam charge and short bunch duration. However, the broadband energy spectrum of these proton sources is a bottleneck that precludes their use in applications requiring a more reduced energy spread. Consequently, in recent times strong effort has been put to overcome these limits and to develop laser-driven proton beamlines with low energy spread. In this paper, we report on beam dynamics simulations aiming at optimizing a laser-driven beamline - i.e. a laser-based proton source coupled to conventional magnetic beam manipulation devices - producing protons with a reduced energy spread, usable for applications. The energy range of investigation goes from 2 to 20 MeV, i.e. the typical proton energies that can be routinely obtained using commercial TW-power class laser systems. Our beamline design is capable of reducing the energy spread below 20%, still keeping the overall transmission efficiency around 1% and producing a proton spot-size in the range of 10 mm 2 . We briefly discuss the results in the context of applications in the domain of Cultural Heritage.

Performance of solenoids versus quadrupoles in focusing and energy selection of laser accelerated protons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hofmann, Ingo

2013-04-01

Using laser accelerated protons or ions for various applications—for example in particle therapy or short-pulse radiographic diagnostics—requires an effective method of focusing and energy selection. We derive an analytical scaling for the performance of a solenoid compared with a doublet/triplet as function of the energy, which is confirmed by TRACEWIN simulations. Generally speaking, the two approaches are equivalent in focusing capability, if parameters are such that the solenoid length approximately equals its diameter. The scaling also shows that this is usually not the case above a few MeV; consequently, a solenoid needs to be pulsed or superconducting, whereas the quadrupoles can remain conventional. It is also important that the transmission of the triplet is found only 25% lower than that of the equivalent solenoid. Both systems are equally suitable for energy selection based on their chromatic effect as is shown using an initial distribution following the RPA simulation model by Yan et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 135001 (2009PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.103.135001].

Advanced Accelerators for Medical Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Uesaka, Mitsuru; Koyama, Kazuyoshi

We review advanced accelerators for medical applications with respect to the following key technologies: (i) higher RF electron linear accelerator (hereafter “linac”); (ii) optimization of alignment for the proton linac, cyclotron and synchrotron; (iii) superconducting magnet; (iv) laser technology. Advanced accelerators for medical applications are categorized into two groups. The first group consists of compact medical linacs with high RF, cyclotrons and synchrotrons downsized by optimization of alignment and superconducting magnets. The second group comprises laser-based acceleration systems aimed of medical applications in the future. Laser plasma electron/ion accelerating systems for cancer therapy and laser dielectric accelerating systems for radiation biology are mentioned. Since the second group has important potential for a compact system, the current status of the established energy and intensity and of the required stability are given.

Advanced Accelerators for Medical Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Uesaka, Mitsuru; Koyama, Kazuyoshi

We review advanced accelerators for medical applications with respect to the following key technologies: (i) higher RF electron linear accelerator (hereafter "linac"); (ii) optimization of alignment for the proton linac, cyclotron and synchrotron; (iii) superconducting magnet; (iv) laser technology. Advanced accelerators for medical applications are categorized into two groups. The first group consists of compact medical linacs with high RF, cyclotrons and synchrotrons downsized by optimization of alignment and superconducting magnets. The second group comprises laserbased acceleration systems aimed of medical applications in the future. Laser plasma electron/ion accelerating systems for cancer therapy and laser dielectric accelerating systems for radiation biology are mentioned. Since the second group has important potential for a compact system, the current status of the established energy and intensity and of the required stability are given.

First demonstration of an emulsion multi-stage shifter for accelerator neutrino experiments in J-PARC T60

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yamada, K.; Aoki, S.; Cao, S.; Chikuma, N.; Fukuda, T.; Fukuzawa, Y.; Gonin, M.; Hayashino, T.; Hayato, Y.; Hiramoto, A.; Hosomi, F.; Inoh, T.; Iori, S.; Ishiguro, K.; Kawahara, H.; Kim, H.; Kitagawa, N.; Koga, T.; Komatani, R.; Komatsu, M.; Matsushita, A.; Mikado, S.; Minamino, A.; Mizusawa, H.; Matsumoto, T.; Matsuo, T.; Morimoto, Y.; Morishima, K.; Morishita, M.; Naganawa, N.; Nakamura, K.; Nakamura, M.; Nakamura, Y.; Nakano, T.; Nakatsuka, Y.; Nakaya, T.; Nishio, A.; Ogawa, S.; Oshima, H.; Quilain, B.; Rokujo, H.; Sato, O.; Seiya, Y.; Shibuya, H.; Shiraishi, T.; Suzuki, Y.; Tada, S.; Takahashi, S.; Yokoyama, M.; Yoshimoto, M.

2017-06-01

We describe the first ever implementation of a clock-based, multi-stage emulsion shifter in an accelerator neutrino experiment. The system was installed in the neutrino monitoring building at the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex as part of a test experiment, T60, and stable operation was maintained for a total of 126.6 days. By applying time information to emulsion films, various results were obtained. Time resolutions of 5.3-14.7 s were evaluated in an operation spanning 46.9 days (yielding division numbers of 1.4-3.8×105). By using timing and spatial information, reconstruction of coincident events consisting of high-multiplicity and vertex-contained events, including neutrino events, was performed. Emulsion events were matched to events observed by INGRID, one of the on-axis near detectors of the T2K experiment, with high reliability (98.5%), and hybrid analysis of the emulsion and INGRID events was established by means of the multi-stage shifter. The results demonstrate that the multi-stage shifter can feasibly be used in neutrino experiments.

Developments and applications of accelerator system at the Wakasa Wan Energy Research Center

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hatori, S.; Kurita, T.; Hayashi, Y.; Yamada, M.; Yamada, H.; Mori, J.; Hamachi, H.; Kimura, S.; Shimoda, T.; Hiroto, M.; Hashimoto, T.; Shimada, M.; Yamamoto, H.; Ohtani, N.; Yasuda, K.; Ishigami, R.; Sasase, M.; Ito, Y.; Hatashita, M.; Takagi, K.; Kume, K.; Fukuda, S.; Yokohama, N.; Kagiya, G.; Fukumoto, S.; Kondo, M.

2005-12-01

At the Wakasa Wan Energy Research Center (WERC), an accelerator system with a 5 MV tandem accelerator and a 200 MeV proton synchrotron is used for ion beam analyses and irradiation experiments. The study of cancer therapy with a proton beam is also performed. Therefore, the stable operation and efficient sharing of beam time of the system are required, based on the treatment standard. Recent developments and the operation status of the system put stress on the tandem accelerator operation, magnifying the problems.

LiF TLD-100 as a dosimeter in high energy proton beam therapy--can it yield accurate results?

PubMed

Zullo, John R; Kudchadker, Rajat J; Zhu, X Ronald; Sahoo, Narayan; Gillin, Michael T

2010-01-01

In the region of high-dose gradients at the end of the proton range, the stopping power ratio of the protons undergoes significant changes, allowing for a broad spectrum of proton energies to be deposited within a relatively small volume. Because of the potential linear energy transfer dependence of LiF TLD-100 (thermolumescent dosimeter), dose measurements made in the distal fall-off region of a proton beam may be less accurate than those made in regions of low-dose gradients. The purpose of this study is to determine the accuracy and precision of dose measured using TLD-100 for a pristine Bragg peak, particularly in the distal fall-off region. All measurements were made along the central axis of an unmodulated 200-MeV proton beam from a Probeat passive beam-scattering proton accelerator (Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan) at varying depths along the Bragg peak. Measurements were made using TLD-100 powder flat packs, placed in a virtual water slab phantom. The measurements were repeated using a parallel plate ionization chamber. The dose measurements using TLD-100 in a proton beam were accurate to within +/-5.0% of the expected dose, previously seen in our past photon and electron measurements. The ionization chamber and the TLD relative dose measurements agreed well with each other. Absolute dose measurements using TLD agreed with ionization chamber measurements to within +/- 3.0 cGy, for an exposure of 100 cGy. In our study, the differences in the dose measured by the ionization chamber and those measured by TLD-100 were minimal, indicating that the accuracy and precision of measurements made in the distal fall-off region of a pristine Bragg peak is within the expected range. Thus, the rapid change in stopping power ratios at the end of the range should not affect such measurements, and TLD-100 may be used with confidence as an in vivo dosimeter for proton beam therapy. Copyright 2010 American Association of Medical Dosimetrists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights

LiF TLD-100 as a Dosimeter in High Energy Proton Beam Therapy-Can It Yield Accurate Results?

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zullo, John R.; Kudchadker, Rajat J.; Zhu, X. Ronald

In the region of high-dose gradients at the end of the proton range, the stopping power ratio of the protons undergoes significant changes, allowing for a broad spectrum of proton energies to be deposited within a relatively small volume. Because of the potential linear energy transfer dependence of LiF TLD-100 (thermolumescent dosimeter), dose measurements made in the distal fall-off region of a proton beam may be less accurate than those made in regions of low-dose gradients. The purpose of this study is to determine the accuracy and precision of dose measured using TLD-100 for a pristine Bragg peak, particularly inmore » the distal fall-off region. All measurements were made along the central axis of an unmodulated 200-MeV proton beam from a Probeat passive beam-scattering proton accelerator (Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan) at varying depths along the Bragg peak. Measurements were made using TLD-100 powder flat packs, placed in a virtual water slab phantom. The measurements were repeated using a parallel plate ionization chamber. The dose measurements using TLD-100 in a proton beam were accurate to within {+-}5.0% of the expected dose, previously seen in our past photon and electron measurements. The ionization chamber and the TLD relative dose measurements agreed well with each other. Absolute dose measurements using TLD agreed with ionization chamber measurements to within {+-} 3.0 cGy, for an exposure of 100 cGy. In our study, the differences in the dose measured by the ionization chamber and those measured by TLD-100 were minimal, indicating that the accuracy and precision of measurements made in the distal fall-off region of a pristine Bragg peak is within the expected range. Thus, the rapid change in stopping power ratios at the end of the range should not affect such measurements, and TLD-100 may be used with confidence as an in vivo dosimeter for proton beam therapy.« less

A new concept of a vacuum insulation tandem accelerator.

PubMed

Sorokin, I; Taskaev, S

2015-12-01

A tandem accelerator with vacuum insulation has been proposed and developed in the Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics. Negative hydrogen ions are accelerated by the positive 1 MV potential of the high voltage electrode, converted into protons in the gas stripping target inside the electrode, and then the protons are accelerated again by the same potential. The potential for high voltage and intermediate electrodes is supplied by the sectioned rectifier through a sectioned bushing insulator with a resistive divider. In this work, we propose a radical improvement of the accelerator concept. It is proposed to abandon the separate placement of the accelerator and the power supply and connect them through the bushing insulator. The source of high voltage is proposed to be located inside the accelerator insulator with high voltage and intermediate electrodes mounted on it. This will reduce the facility height from 7 m to 3m and make it really compact and attractive for placing in a clinic. This will significantly increase the stability of the accelerator because the potential for intermediate electrodes can be fed directly from the relevant sections of the rectifier. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Terahertz-driven linear electron acceleration

PubMed Central

Nanni, Emilio A.; Huang, Wenqian R.; Hong, Kyung-Han; Ravi, Koustuban; Fallahi, Arya; Moriena, Gustavo; Dwayne Miller, R. J.; Kärtner, Franz X.

2015-01-01

The cost, size and availability of electron accelerators are dominated by the achievable accelerating gradient. Conventional high-brightness radio-frequency accelerating structures operate with 30–50 MeV m−1 gradients. Electron accelerators driven with optical or infrared sources have demonstrated accelerating gradients orders of magnitude above that achievable with conventional radio-frequency structures. However, laser-driven wakefield accelerators require intense femtosecond sources and direct laser-driven accelerators suffer from low bunch charge, sub-micron tolerances and sub-femtosecond timing requirements due to the short wavelength of operation. Here we demonstrate linear acceleration of electrons with keV energy gain using optically generated terahertz pulses. Terahertz-driven accelerating structures enable high-gradient electron/proton accelerators with simple accelerating structures, high repetition rates and significant charge per bunch. These ultra-compact terahertz accelerators with extremely short electron bunches hold great potential to have a transformative impact for free electron lasers, linear colliders, ultrafast electron diffraction, X-ray science and medical therapy with X-rays and electron beams. PMID:26439410

Collisionless Shocks and Particle Acceleration.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Malkov, M.

2016-12-01

Collisionless shocks emerged in the 50s and 60s of the last century as an important branch of plasma physics and have remained ever since. New applications pose new challenges to our understanding of collisionless shock mechanisms. Particle acceleration in astrophysical settings, primarily studied concerning the putative origin of cosmic rays (CR) in supernova remnant (SNR) shocks, stands out with the collisionless shock mechanism being the key. Among recent laboratory applications, a laser-based tabletop proton accelerator is an affordable compact alternative to big synchrotron accelerators. The much-anticipated proof of cosmic ray (CR) acceleration in supernova remnants is hindered by our limited understanding of collisionless shock mechanisms. Over the last decade, dramatically improved observations were puzzling the theorists with unexpected discoveries. The difference between the helium/carbon and proton CR rigidity (momentum to charge ratio) spectra, seemingly inconsistent with the acceleration and propagation theories, and the perplexing positron excess in the 10-300 GeV range are just two recent examples. The latter is now also actively discussed in the particle physics and CR communities as a possible signature of decay or annihilation of hypothetical dark matter particles. By considering an initial (injection) phase of a diffusive shock acceleration mechanism, including particle reflection off the shock front - where an elemental similarity of particle dynamics does not apply - I will discuss recent suggestions of how to address the new data from the collisionless shock perspective. The backreaction of accelerated particles on the shock structure, its environment, and visibility across the electromagnetic spectrum from radio to gamma rays is another key aspect of collisionless shock that will be discussed.

SHORT ACCELERATION TIMES FROM SUPERDIFFUSIVE SHOCK ACCELERATION IN THE HELIOSPHERE

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Perri, S.; Zimbardo, G., E-mail: silvia.perri@fis.unical.it

2015-12-10

The analysis of time profiles of particles accelerated at interplanetary shocks allows particle transport properties to be inferred. The frequently observed power-law decay upstream, indeed, implies a superdiffusive particle transport when the level of magnetic field variance does not change as the time interval from the shock front increases. In this context, a superdiffusive shock acceleration (SSA) theory has been developed, allowing us to make predictions of the acceleration times. In this work we estimate for a number of interplanetary shocks, including the solar wind termination shock, the acceleration times for energetic protons in the framework of SSA and wemore » compare the results with the acceleration times predicted by standard diffusive shock acceleration. The acceleration times due to SSA are found to be much shorter than in the classical model, and also shorter than the interplanetary shock lifetimes. This decrease of the acceleration times is due to the scale-free nature of the particle displacements in the framework of superdiffusion. Indeed, very long displacements are possible, increasing the probability for particles far from the front of the shock to return, and short displacements have a high probability of occurrence, increasing the chances for particles close to the front to cross the shock many times.« less

A PET system based on 2-18FDG production with a low energy electrostatic proton accelerator and a dual headed PET scanner.

PubMed

Sandell, A; Ohlsson, T; Erlandsson, K; Hellborg, R; Strand, S E

1992-01-01

We have developed a comparatively inexpensive PET system, based on a rotating scanner with two scintillation camera heads, and a nearby low energy electrostatic proton accelerator for production of short-lived radionuclides. Using a 6 MeV proton beam of 5 microA, and by optimization of the target geometry for the 18O(p,n)18F reaction, 750 MBq of 2-18FDG can be obtained. The PET scanner shows a spatial resolution of 6 mm (FWHM) and a sensitivity of 80 s-1kBq-1ml-1 (3 kcps/microCi/ml). Various corrections are included in the imaging process, to compensate for spatial and temporal response variations in the detector system. Both filtered backprojection and iterative reconstruction methods are employed. Clinical studies have been performed with acquisition times of 30-40 min. The system will be used for clinical experimental research with short- as well as long-lived positron emitters. Also the possibility of true 3D reconstruction is under evaluation.

Polarity governed selective amplification of through plane proton shuttling in proton exchange membrane fuel cells.

PubMed

Gautam, Manu; Chattanahalli Devendrachari, Mruthyunjayachari; Thimmappa, Ravikumar; Raja Kottaichamy, Alagar; Pottachola Shafi, Shahid; Gaikwad, Pramod; Makri Nimbegondi Kotresh, Harish; Ottakam Thotiyl, Musthafa

2017-03-15

Graphene oxide (GO) anisotropically conducts protons with directional dominance of in plane ionic transport (σ IP) over the through plane (σ TP). In a typical H 2 -O 2 fuel cell, since the proton conduction occurs through the plane during its generation at the fuel electrode, it is indeed inevitable to selectively accelerate GO's σ TP for advancement towards a potential fuel cell membrane. We successfully achieved ∼7 times selective amplification of GO's σ TP by tuning the polarity of the dopant molecule in its nanoporous matrix. The coexistence of strongly non-polar and polar domains in the dopant demonstrated a synergistic effect towards σ TP with the former decreasing the number of water molecules coordinated to protons by ∼3 times, diminishing the effects of electroosmotic drag exerted on ionic movements, and the latter selectively accelerating σ TP across the catalytic layers by bridging the individual GO planes via extensive host guest H-bonding interactions. When they are decoupled, the dopant with mainly non-polar or polar features only marginally enhances the σ TP, revealing that polarity factors contribute to fuel cell relevant transport properties of GO membranes only when they coexist. Fuel cell polarization and kinetic analyses revealed that these multitask dopants increased the fuel cell performance metrics of the power and current densities by ∼3 times compared to the pure GO membranes, suggesting that the functional group factors of the dopants are of utmost importance in GO-based proton exchange membrane fuel cells.

Proton Probing using the T-Cubed Laser

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kordell, Peter; Campbell, Paul; Willingale, Louise; Maksimchuk, Anatoly; Krushelnick, Karl; Tubman, Eleanor; Woolsey, Nigel

2015-11-01

The University of Michigan's 20 TW, 400 fs pulse T-cubed laser can produce proton beams of up to 7.2 MeV through target normal sheeth acceleration. The proton flux at 4 MeV produces sufficient signal on Radiochromic Film for use as an ultrafast, electromagnetic field diagnostic. A two beam experiment has been set-up to enable co-timed, pump-probe relativistic intensity interactions. We present an evaluation of the flux, uniformity, energy and laminar flow of the proton probe for future use in imaging of a simple wire target interaction. This work was supported by the DOE (Grant No. DE-SC0012327).

Ion acceleration enhanced by target ablation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhao, S.; State Key Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and Technology, and Key Lab of HEDPS, CAPT, Peking University, Beijing 100871; Institute of Radiation, Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, 01314 Dresden

2015-07-15

Laser proton acceleration can be enhanced by using target ablation, due to the energetic electrons generated in the ablation preplasma. When the ablation pulse matches main pulse, the enhancement gets optimized because the electrons' energy density is highest. A scaling law between the ablation pulse and main pulse is confirmed by the simulation, showing that for given CPA pulse and target, proton energy improvement can be achieved several times by adjusting the target ablation.

Proton-Proton Elastic Scattering Excitation Functions at Intermediate Energies: Cross Sections and Analyzing Powers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hinterberger, F.; Rohdjeß, H.; Altmeier, M.; Bauer, F.; Bisplinghoff, J.; Büßer, K.; Busch, M.; Colberg, T.; Diehl, O.; Dohrmann, F.; Engelhardt, H. P.; Eversheim, P. D.; Felden, O.; Gebel, R.; Glende, M.; Greiff, J.; Groß-Hardt, R.; Hinterberger, F.; Jahn, R.; Jonas, E.; Krause, H.; Langkau, R.; Lindemann, T.; Lindlein, J.; Maier, R.; Maschuw, R.; Mayer-Kuckuk, T.; Meinerzhagen, A.; Nähle, O.; Prasuhn, D.; Rohdjeß, H.; Rosendaal, D.; von Rossen, P.; Schirm, N.; Schulz-Rojahn, M.; Schwarz, V.; Scobel, W.; Trelle, H. J.; Weise, E.; Wellinghausen, A.; Woller, K.; Ziegler, R.

2000-01-01

The EDDA experiment at the cooler synchrotron COSY measures proton-proton elastic scattering excitation functions in the momentum range 0.8 - 3.4 GeV/c. In phase 1 of the experiment, spin-averaged differential cross sections were measured continuously during acceleration with an internal polypropylene (CH2) fiber target, taking particular care to monitor luminosity as a function of beam momentum. In phase 2, excitation functions of the analyzing power AN and the polarization correlation parameters ANN, ASS and ASL are measured using a polarized proton beam and a polarized atomic hydrogen beam target. The paper presents recent dσ/dΩ and AN data. The results provide excitation functions and angular distributions of high precision and internal consistency. No evidence for narrow structures was found. The data are compared to recent phase shift solutions.

Characteristics of proton beams and secondary neutrons arising from two different beam nozzles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Choi, Yeon-Gyeong; Kim, Yu-Seok

2015-10-01

A tandem or a Van de Graaff accelerator with an energy of 3 MeV is typically used for Proton Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE) analysis. In this study, the beam line design used in the PIXE analysis, instead of the typical low-energy accelerator, was used to increase the production of isotopes from a 13-MeV cyclotron. For the PIXE analysis, the proton beam should be focused at the target through a nozzle after degrading the proton beams energy from 13 MeV to 3 MeV by using an energy degrader. Previous studies have been conducted to determine the most appropriate material for and the thickness of the energy degrader. From the energy distribution of the degraded proton beam and the neutron occurrence rate at the degrader, an aluminum nozzle of X thickness was determined to be the most appropriate nozzle construction. Neutrons are created by the collision of 3-MeV protons in the nozzle after passage through the energy degrader. In addition, a proton beam of sufficient intensity is required for a non-destructive PIXE analysis. Therefore, if nozzle design is to be optimized, the number of neutrons that arise from the collision of protons inside the nozzle, as well as the track direction of the generated secondary neutrons, must be considered, with the primary aim of ensuring that a sufficient number of protons pass through the nozzle as a direct beam. A number of laboratories are currently conducting research related to the design of nozzles used in accelerator fields, mostly medical fields. This paper presents a comparative analysis of two typical nozzle shapes in order to minimize the loss of protons and the generation of secondary neutrons. The neutron occurrence rate and the number of protons that pass through the nozzle were analyzed by using a Particle and Heavy Ion Transport code System (PHITS) program in order to identify the nozzle that generated the strongest proton beam.

Installation and performance of the Budapest Hamburg proton microprobe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kovács, I.; Kocsonya, A.; Kostka, P.; Szőkefalvi-Nagy, Z.; Schrang, K.; Krüger, A.; Niecke, M.

2005-04-01

A new scanning proton microprobe has been installed at the 5 MV Van de Graaff accelerator of the KFKI Research Institute for Particle and Nuclear Physics. It is the energy-upgraded version of the Hamburg proton microprobe dismantled in 2001. The probe forming system includes a pair of focusing quadrupoles and an additional quadrupole pair in front of it, which is applied to increase the proton beam divergence. The average probe size at 2.5 MeV proton energy is 2.2 μm × 1.1 μm. The test results on stability and the preliminary experiments on cement corrosion and fish otoliths are also presented.

Japan-U.S. Relations: Issues for Congress

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-11-25

22 Insurance ...accelerated its longstanding efforts to become a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council by forming a coalition with Germany , India... Insurance Market access in Japan for U.S. and other foreign insurance providers has been the subject of bilateral trade agreements and discussion for some

Proton irradiation on materials

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chang, C. Ken

1993-01-01

A computer code is developed by utilizing a radiation transport code developed at NASA Langley Research Center to study the proton radiation effects on materials which have potential application in NASA's future space missions. The code covers the proton energy from 0.01 Mev to 100 Gev and is sufficient for energetic protons encountered in both low earth and geosynchronous orbits. With some modification, the code can be extended for particles heavier than proton as the radiation source. The code is capable of calculating the range, stopping power, exit energy, energy deposition coefficients, dose, and cumulative dose along the path of the proton in a target material. The target material can be any combination of the elements with atomic number ranging from 1 to 92, or any compound with known chemical composition. The generated cross section for a material is stored and is reused in future to save computer time. This information can be utilized to calculate the proton dose a material would receive in an orbit when the radiation environment is known. It can also be used to determine, in the laboratory, the parameters such as beam current of proton and irradiation time to attain the desired dosage for accelerated ground testing of any material. It is hoped that the present work be extended to include polymeric and composite materials which are prime candidates for use as coating, electronic components, and structure building. It is also desirable to determine, for ground testing these materials, the laboratory parameters in order to simulate the dose they would receive in space environments. A sample print-out for water subject to 1.5 Mev proton is included as a reference.

A maximum likelihood method for high resolution proton radiography/proton CT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Collins-Fekete, Charles-Antoine; Brousmiche, Sébastien; Portillo, Stephen K. N.; Beaulieu, Luc; Seco, Joao

2016-12-01

Multiple Coulomb scattering (MCS) is the largest contributor to blurring in proton imaging. In this work, we developed a maximum likelihood least squares estimator that improves proton radiography’s spatial resolution. The water equivalent thickness (WET) through projections defined from the source to the detector pixels were estimated such that they maximizes the likelihood of the energy loss of every proton crossing the volume. The length spent in each projection was calculated through the optimized cubic spline path estimate. The proton radiographies were produced using Geant4 simulations. Three phantoms were studied here: a slanted cube in a tank of water to measure 2D spatial resolution, a voxelized head phantom for clinical performance evaluation as well as a parametric Catphan phantom (CTP528) for 3D spatial resolution. Two proton beam configurations were used: a parallel and a conical beam. Proton beams of 200 and 330 MeV were simulated to acquire the radiography. Spatial resolution is increased from 2.44 lp cm-1 to 4.53 lp cm-1 in the 200 MeV beam and from 3.49 lp cm-1 to 5.76 lp cm-1 in the 330 MeV beam. Beam configurations do not affect the reconstructed spatial resolution as investigated between a radiography acquired with the parallel (3.49 lp cm-1 to 5.76 lp cm-1) or conical beam (from 3.49 lp cm-1 to 5.56 lp cm-1). The improved images were then used as input in a photon tomography algorithm. The proton CT reconstruction of the Catphan phantom shows high spatial resolution (from 2.79 to 5.55 lp cm-1 for the parallel beam and from 3.03 to 5.15 lp cm-1 for the conical beam) and the reconstruction of the head phantom, although qualitative, shows high contrast in the gradient region. The proposed formulation of the optimization demonstrates serious potential to increase the spatial resolution (up by 65 % ) in proton radiography and greatly accelerate proton computed tomography reconstruction.

A maximum likelihood method for high resolution proton radiography/proton CT.

PubMed

Collins-Fekete, Charles-Antoine; Brousmiche, Sébastien; Portillo, Stephen K N; Beaulieu, Luc; Seco, Joao

2016-12-07

Multiple Coulomb scattering (MCS) is the largest contributor to blurring in proton imaging. In this work, we developed a maximum likelihood least squares estimator that improves proton radiography's spatial resolution. The water equivalent thickness (WET) through projections defined from the source to the detector pixels were estimated such that they maximizes the likelihood of the energy loss of every proton crossing the volume. The length spent in each projection was calculated through the optimized cubic spline path estimate. The proton radiographies were produced using Geant4 simulations. Three phantoms were studied here: a slanted cube in a tank of water to measure 2D spatial resolution, a voxelized head phantom for clinical performance evaluation as well as a parametric Catphan phantom (CTP528) for 3D spatial resolution. Two proton beam configurations were used: a parallel and a conical beam. Proton beams of 200 and 330 MeV were simulated to acquire the radiography. Spatial resolution is increased from 2.44 lp cm -1 to 4.53 lp cm -1 in the 200 MeV beam and from 3.49 lp cm -1 to 5.76 lp cm -1 in the 330 MeV beam. Beam configurations do not affect the reconstructed spatial resolution as investigated between a radiography acquired with the parallel (3.49 lp cm -1 to 5.76 lp cm -1 ) or conical beam (from 3.49 lp cm -1 to 5.56 lp cm -1 ). The improved images were then used as input in a photon tomography algorithm. The proton CT reconstruction of the Catphan phantom shows high spatial resolution (from 2.79 to 5.55 lp cm -1 for the parallel beam and from 3.03 to 5.15 lp cm -1 for the conical beam) and the reconstruction of the head phantom, although qualitative, shows high contrast in the gradient region. The proposed formulation of the optimization demonstrates serious potential to increase the spatial resolution (up by 65[Formula: see text]) in proton radiography and greatly accelerate proton computed tomography reconstruction.

Prompt particle acceleration around moving X-point magnetic field during impulsive phase of solar flares

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sakai, Jun-Ichi

1992-01-01

We present a model for high-energy solar flares to explain prompt proton and electron acceleration, which occurs around moving X-point magnetic field during the implosion phase of the current sheet. We derive the electromagnetic fields during the strong implosion phase of the current sheets, which is driven by the converging flow derived from the magnetohydrodynamic equations. It is shown that both protons and electrons can be promptly (within 1 second) accelerated to approximately 70 MeV and approximately 200 MeV, respectively. This acceleration mechanism can be applicable for the impulsive phase of the gradual gamma ray and proton flares (gradual GR/P flare), which have been called two-ribbon flares.

JAERI R & D on accelerator-based transmutation under OMEGA program

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Takizuka, T.; Nishida, T.; Mizumoto, M.

1995-10-01

The overview of the Japanese long-term research and development program on nuclide partitioning and transmutation, called {open_quotes}OMEGA,{close_quotes} is presented. Under this national program, major R&D activities are being carried out at JAERI, PNC, and CRIEPI. Accelerator-based transmutation study at JAERI is focused on a dedicated transmutor with a subcritical actinide-fueled subcritical core coupled with a spallation target driven by a high intensity proton accelerator. Two types of system concept, solid system and molten-salt system, are discussed. The solid system consists of sodium-cooled tungsten target and metallic actinide fuel. The molten-salt system is fueled with molten actinide chloride that acts alsomore » as a target material. The proposed plant transmutes about 250 kg of minor actinide per year, and generates enough electricity to power its own accelerator. JAERI is proposing the development of an intense proton linear accelerator ETA with 1.5 GeV-10 mA beam for engineering tests of accelerator-based transmutation. Recent achievements in the accelerator development are described.« less

Coupling and decoupling of the accelerating units for pulsed synchronous linear accelerator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shen, Yi; Liu, Yi; Ye, Mao; Zhang, Huang; Wang, Wei; Xia, Liansheng; Wang, Zhiwen; Yang, Chao; Shi, Jinshui; Zhang, Linwen; Deng, Jianjun

2017-12-01

A pulsed synchronous linear accelerator (PSLA), based on the solid-state pulse forming line, photoconductive semiconductor switch, and high gradient insulator technologies, is a novel linear accelerator. During the prototype PSLA commissioning, the energy gain of proton beams was found to be much lower than expected. In this paper, the degradation of the energy gain is explained by the circuit and cavity coupling effect of the accelerating units. The coupling effects of accelerating units are studied, and the circuit topologies of these two kinds of coupling effects are presented. Two methods utilizing inductance and membrane isolations, respectively, are proposed to reduce the circuit coupling effects. The effectiveness of the membrane isolation method is also supported by simulations. The decoupling efficiency of the metal drift tube is also researched. We carried out the experiments on circuit decoupling of the multiple accelerating cavity. The result shows that both circuit decoupling methods could increase the normalized voltage.

Particle acceleration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vlahos, L.; Machado, M. E.; Ramaty, R.; Murphy, R. J.; Alissandrakis, C.; Bai, T.; Batchelor, D.; Benz, A. O.; Chupp, E.; Ellison, D.

1986-01-01

Data is compiled from Solar Maximum Mission and Hinothori satellites, particle detectors in several satellites, ground based instruments, and balloon flights in order to answer fundamental questions relating to: (1) the requirements for the coronal magnetic field structure in the vicinity of the energization source; (2) the height (above the photosphere) of the energization source; (3) the time of energization; (4) transistion between coronal heating and flares; (5) evidence for purely thermal, purely nonthermal and hybrid type flares; (6) the time characteristics of the energization source; (7) whether every flare accelerates protons; (8) the location of the interaction site of the ions and relativistic electrons; (9) the energy spectra for ions and relativistic electrons; (10) the relationship between particles at the Sun and interplanetary space; (11) evidence for more than one acceleration mechanism; (12) whether there is single mechanism that will accelerate particles to all energies and also heat the plasma; and (13) how fast the existing mechanisms accelerate electrons up to several MeV and ions to 1 GeV.

Moving protons with pendant amines: proton mobility in a nickel catalyst for oxidation of hydrogen.

PubMed

O'Hagan, Molly; Shaw, Wendy J; Raugei, Simone; Chen, Shentan; Yang, Jenny Y; Kilgore, Uriah J; DuBois, Daniel L; Bullock, R Morris

2011-09-14

Proton transport is ubiquitous in chemical and biological processes, including the reduction of dioxygen to water, the reduction of CO(2) to formate, and the production/oxidation of hydrogen. In this work we describe intramolecular proton transfer between Ni and positioned pendant amines for the hydrogen oxidation electrocatalyst [Ni(P(Cy)(2)N(Bn)(2)H)(2)](2+) (P(Cy)(2)N(Bn)(2) = 1,5-dibenzyl-3,7-dicyclohexyl-1,5-diaza-3,7-diphosphacyclooctane). Rate constants are determined by variable-temperature one-dimensional NMR techniques and two-dimensional EXSY experiments. Computational studies provide insight into the details of the proton movement and energetics of these complexes. Intramolecular proton exchange processes are observed for two of the three experimentally observable isomers of the doubly protonated Ni(0) complex, [Ni(P(Cy)(2)N(Bn)(2)H)(2)](2+), which have N-H bonds but no Ni-H bonds. For these two isomers, with pendant amines positioned endo to the Ni, the rate constants for proton exchange range from 10(4) to 10(5) s(-1) at 25 °C, depending on isomer and solvent. No exchange is observed for protons on pendant amines positioned exo to the Ni. Analysis of the exchange as a function of temperature provides a barrier for proton exchange of ΔG(‡) = 11-12 kcal/mol for both isomers, with little dependence on solvent. Density functional theory calculations and molecular dynamics simulations support the experimental observations, suggesting metal-mediated intramolecular proton transfers between nitrogen atoms, with chair-to-boat isomerizations as the rate-limiting steps. Because of the fast rate of proton movement, this catalyst may be considered a metal center surrounded by a cloud of exchanging protons. The high intramolecular proton mobility provides information directly pertinent to the ability of pendant amines to accelerate proton transfers during catalysis of hydrogen oxidation. These results may also have broader implications for proton movement in

Numerical simulations of recent proton acceleration experiments with sub-100 TW laser systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sinigardi, Stefano

2016-09-01

Recent experiments carried out at the Italian National Research Center, National Optics Institute Department in Pisa, are showing interesting results regarding maximum proton energies achievable with sub-100 TW laser systems. While laser systems are being continuously upgraded in laboratories around the world, at the same time a new trend on stabilizing and making ion acceleration results reproducible is growing in importance. Almost all applications require a beam with fixed performance, so that the energy spectrum and the total charge exhibit moderate shot to shot variations. This result is surely far from being achieved, but many paths are being explored in order to reach it. Some of the reasons for this variability come from fluctuations in laser intensity and focusing, due to optics instability. Other variation sources come from small differences in the target structure. The target structure can vary substantially, when it is impacted by the main pulse, due to the prepulse duration and intensity, the shape of the main pulse and the total energy deposited. In order to qualitatively describe the prepulse effect, we will present a two dimensional parametric scan of its relevant parameters. A single case is also analyzed with a full three dimensional simulation, obtaining reasonable agreement between the numerical and the experimental energy spectrum.

Shielding of relativistic protons.

PubMed

Bertucci, A; Durante, M; Gialanella, G; Grossi, G; Manti, L; Pugliese, M; Scampoli, P; Mancusi, D; Sihver, L; Rusek, A

2007-06-01

Protons are the most abundant element in the galactic cosmic radiation, and the energy spectrum peaks around 1 GeV. Shielding of relativistic protons is therefore a key problem in the radiation protection strategy of crewmembers involved in long-term missions in deep space. Hydrogen ions were accelerated up to 1 GeV at the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, New York. The proton beam was also shielded with thick (about 20 g/cm2) blocks of lucite (PMMA) or aluminium (Al). We found that the dose rate was increased 40-60% by the shielding and decreased as a function of the distance along the axis. Simulations using the General-Purpose Particle and Heavy-Ion Transport code System (PHITS) show that the dose increase is mostly caused by secondary protons emitted by the target. The modified radiation field after the shield has been characterized for its biological effectiveness by measuring chromosomal aberrations in human peripheral blood lymphocytes exposed just behind the shield block, or to the direct beam, in the dose range 0.5-3 Gy. Notwithstanding the increased dose per incident proton, the fraction of aberrant cells at the same dose in the sample position was not significantly modified by the shield. The PHITS code simulations show that, albeit secondary protons are slower than incident nuclei, the LET spectrum is still contained in the low-LET range (<10 keV/microm), which explains the approximately unitary value measured for the relative biological effectiveness.

Acceleration by pulsar winds in binary systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Harding, Alice K.; Gaisser, T. K.

1990-01-01

In the absence of accretion torques, a pulsar in a binary system will spin down due to electromagnetic dipole radiation and the spin-down power will drive a wind of relativistic electron-positron pairs. Winds from pulsars with short periods will prevent any subsequent accretion but may be confined by the companion star atmosphere, wind, or magnetosphere to form a standing shock. The authors investigate the possibility of particle acceleration at such a pulsar wind shock and the production of very high energy (VHE) and ultra high energy (UHE) gamma rays from interactions of accelerated protons in the companion star's wind or atmosphere. They find that in close binaries containing active pulsars, protons will be shock accelerated to a maximum energy dependent on the pulsar spin-down luminosity. If a significant fraction of the spin-down power goes into particle acceleration, these systems should be sources of VHE and possibly UHE gamma rays. The authors discuss the application of the pulsar wind model to binary sources such as Cygnus X-3, as well as the possibility of observing VHE gamma-rays from known binary radio pulsar systems.

Impact of Comorbid Irritable Bowel Syndrome on Treatment Outcome in Non-Erosive Reflux Disease on Long-Term Proton Pump Inhibitor in Japan.

PubMed

Funaki, Yasushi; Kaneko, Hiroshi; Kawamura, Yurika; Yoshimine, Takashi; Tamura, Yasuhiro; Izawa, Shinya; Ebi, Masahide; Ogasawara, Naotaka; Sasaki, Makoto; Kasugai, Kunio

2017-01-01

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) frequently coexists with non-erosive reflux disease (NERD). Efficacy of long-term proton pump inhibitor (PPI) treatment on NERD with or without IBS is controversial. The impact of comorbid IBS in NERD on quality of life (QOL) remains uncertain. We verified the hypothesis that NERD patients with IBS symptoms demonstrated poor responses to long-term PPI treatments, deteriorated QOL, and high frequency of psychological deviations in Japan. In all, 141 NERD patients who had been taking PPIs for more than 6 months were enrolled and analyzed. Patient profiles were assessed by GerdQ, IBS Severity Index (IBSSI-J)/Gastrointestinal Symptoms Rating Scale (GSRS)/SF-8, and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). IBS existed in 37 out of 141 NERD patients. Patients with IBS (the positive-IBS group) demonstrated significantly higher frequencies of extant reflux symptoms than those without IBS (64.9 vs. 40.4%). In the positive-IBS group, 40.5% were classified as middle grade by IBSSI-J. The SF-8 and GSRS scores in this group were significantly lower than those without IBS (the negative-IBS group). Prevalence of depression and anxiety by HADS in the positive-IBS group was significantly higher than that in the negative-IBS group. These results proved the hypothesis that considering comorbid IBS among NERD patients on long-term PPI seems recommended in Japan. © 2017 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Accelerated redox reaction between chromate and phenolic pollutants during freezing.

PubMed

Ju, Jinjung; Kim, Jaesung; Vetráková, Ľubica; Seo, Jiwon; Heger, Dominik; Lee, Changha; Yoon, Ho-Il; Kim, Kitae; Kim, Jungwon

2017-05-05

The redox reaction between 4-chlorophenol (4-CP) and chromate (Cr(VI)) (i.e., the simultaneous oxidation of 4-CP by Cr(VI) and reduction of Cr(VI) by 4-CP) in ice (i.e., at -20°C) was compared with the corresponding reaction in water (i.e., at 25°C). The redox conversion of 4-CP/Cr(VI), which was negligible in water, was significantly accelerated in ice. This accelerated redox conversion of 4-CP/Cr(VI) in ice is ascribed to the freeze concentration effect occurring during freezing, which excludes solutes (i.e., 4-CP and Cr(VI)) and protons from the ice crystals and subsequently concentrates them in the liquid brine. The concentrations of Cr(VI) and protons in the liquid brine were confirmed by measuring the optical image and the UV-vis absorption spectra of cresol red (CR) as a pH indicator of frozen solution. The redox conversion of 4-CP/Cr(VI) was observed in water when the concentrations of 4-CP/protons or Cr(VI)/protons increased by 100/1000-fold. These results corroborate the freeze concentration effect as the reason for the accelerated redox conversion of 4-CP/Cr(VI) in ice. The redox conversion of various phenolic pollutants/Cr(VI) and 4-CP/Cr(VI) in real wastewater was successfully achieved in ice, which verifies the environmental relevance and importance of freezing-accelerated redox conversion of phenolic pollutants/Cr(VI) in cold regions. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

[Establishment of anatomical terminology in Japan].

PubMed

Shimada, Kazuyuki

2008-12-01

The history of anatomical terminology in Japan began with the publication of Waran Naikei Ihan-teimŏ in 1805 and Chŏtei Kaitai Shinsho in 1826. Although the establishment of Japanese anatomical terminology became necessary during the Meiji era when many western anatomy books imported into Janan were translated, such terminology was not unified during this period and varied among translators. In 1871, Tsukumo Ono's Kaibŏgaku Gosen was published by the Ministry of Education. Although this book is considered to be the first anatomical glossary terms in Japan, its contents were incomplete. Overseas, the German Anatomical Society established a unified anatomical terminology in 1895 called the Basle Nomina Anatomica (B.N.A.). Based on this development, Kaibŏgaku Meishŭ which follows the BNA, by Buntarŏ Suzuki was published in 1905. With the subsequent establishment in 1935 of Jena Nomina Anatomica (J.N.A.), the unification of anatomical terminology was also accelerated in Japan, leading to the further development of terminology.

Release from ISOLDE molten metal targets under pulsed proton beam conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lettry, J.; Catherall, R.; Cyvoct, G.; Evensen, A. H. M.; Lindroos, M.; Jonsson, O. C.; Kugler, E.; Schindl, K.; Ravn, H.; Wildner, E.; Drumm, P.; Obert, J.; Putaux, J. C.; Sauvage, J.

1996-04-01

By moving the ISOLDE mass separators from the 600 MeV Synchrocyclotron (SC) to the 1 GeV Proton-Synchrotron-Booster (PS) the instantaneous energy density of the proton beam went up by 3 orders of magnitude. The developments of the molten metal target units and the optimization of the PS proton beam to cope with the effects of the thermal shocks induced by the proton beam are described. The energy density of the PS proton beam was reduced by spatial defocusing and time staggered extraction of the four PS-accelerators. The release from lanthanum, lead and tin targets is discussed for different settings of the proton beam and compared to the release observed at ISOLDE-SC. The yields of Hg isotopes are presented.

Photo-Production of Proton Antiproton Pairs

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Paul Eugenio; Burnham Stokes

2007-02-01

Results are reported on the reaction gammap --> ppp-bar . A high statistic data set was obtained at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility utilizing the CLAS detector and a tagged photon beam of 4.8 to 5.2 GeV incident on a liquid hydrogen target. The focus of this study was to search for possible intermediate resonances which decay to proton-antiproton. Both final state protons were detected in the CLAS apparatus whereas the antiproton was identified via missing mass. General features of the data are presented along with results on narrow and broad resonance studies.

Photo-Production of Proton Antiproton Pairs

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Eugenio, Paul; Stokes, Burnham

2007-02-27

Results are reported on the reaction {gamma}p {yields} ppp-bar. A high statistic data set was obtained at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility utilizing the CLAS detector and a tagged photon beam of 4.8 to 5.2 GeV incident on a liquid hydrogen target. The focus of this study was to search for possible intermediate resonances which decay to proton-antiproton. Both final state protons were detected in the CLAS apparatus whereas the antiproton was identified via missing mass. General features of the data are presented along with results on narrow and broad resonance studies.

Summary of the Normal-Conducting Accelerating Structures for LEDA and APT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schneider, J. David

1998-04-01

The accelerator production of tritium (APT) plant requires a continuous (100% duty-factor), 100-mA, 1000--1700-MeV proton beam. Superconducting structures will accelerate protons above about 200 MeV, but room-temperature, normal-conducting (NC) copper structures will be used for lower energies. We will assemble the front 11-MeV portion of this NC accelerator as the low-energy demonstration accelerator (LEDA). This presentation will cover the demonstated operation of the proton injector, the design, fabrication, and tuning status of the 6.7-MeV RFQ, and the design features of the CCDTL (coupled-cavity drift-tube linac) that will accelerate protons to 100 MeV, before use of a conventional CCL (coupled-cavity linac). Several innovative features result in improved performance, ease of use, and improved reliabiltiy. The75-keV injector features a microwave ion source, dual-solenoid transport, and has no electronics at high potential. Its demonstrated high efficiency (less than 800 Watts), excellent proton fraction (>90%), high current (>110 mA), and reliability make it attractive for several other high-current applications. The 6.7-MeV, 350-MHz RFQ is an 8-meter-long, brazed-copper structure with hundreds of cooling channels that carry away the 1.3 MW of waste heat. During beam operation, only the cooling-water temperature is adjustable to maintain structure resonance. LEDA's 700-MHz CCDTL structure is new, combining features of the conventional DTL and CCL structures. All focus magnets are external to the copper accelerating cavities, each of which contains either one or two drift tubes. A `hot model' will validate fabrication, cooling, tuning, and coupling techniques. The LEDA facility is being upgraded with 15 MW of power and cooling utiliites, to support seven 1-MW cw RF systems needed to power all structures. The first few of these 1.3 MW 350-MHz systems are operational, and extensive testing was completed on the critical RF windows. Updates will be given on the

Relativistically Induced Transparency Acceleration (RITA) - laser-plasma accelerated quasi-monoenergetic GeV ion-beams with existing lasers?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sahai, Aakash A.

2013-10-01

Laser-plasma ion accelerators have the potential to produce beams with unprecedented characteristics of ultra-short bunch lengths (100s of fs) and high bunch-charge (1010 particles) over acceleration length of about 100 microns. However, creating and controlling mono-energetic bunches while accelerating to high-energies has been a challenge. If high-energy mono-energetic beams can be demonstrated with minimal post-processing, laser (ω0)-plasma (ωpe) ion accelerators may be used in a wide-range of applications such as cancer hadron-therapy, medical isotope production, neutron generation, radiography and high-energy density science. Here we demonstrate using analysis and simulations that using relativistic intensity laser-pulses and heavy-ion (Mi ×me) targets doped with a proton (or light-ion) species (mp ×me) of trace density (at least an order of magnitude below the cold critical density) we can scale up the energy of quasi-mono-energetically accelerated proton (or light-ion) beams while controlling their energy, charge and energy spectrum. This is achieved by controlling the laser propagation into an overdense (ω0 <ωpeγ = 1) increasing plasma density gradient by incrementally inducing relativistic electron quiver and thereby rendering them transparent to the laser while the heavy-ions are immobile. Ions do not directly interact with ultra-short laser that is much shorter in duration than their characteristic time-scale (τp <<√{mp} /ω0 <<√{Mi} /ω0). For a rising laser intensity envelope, increasing relativistic quiver controls laser propagation beyond the cold critical density. For increasing plasma density (ωpe2 (x)), laser penetrates into higher density and is shielded, stopped and reflected where ωpe2 (x) / γ (x , t) =ω02 . In addition to the laser quivering the electrons, it also ponderomotively drives (Fp 1/γ∇za2) them forward longitudinally, creating a constriction of snowplowed e-s. The resulting longitudinal e--displacement from

Medical Application of the SARAF-Proton/Deuteron 40 MeV Superconducting Linac

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Halfon, Shlomi

2007-11-26

The Soreq Applied Research Accelerator Facility (SARAF) is based on a superconducting linear accelerator currently being built at the Soreq research center (Israel). The SARAF is planned to generate a 2 mA 4 MeV proton beam during its first year of operation and up to 40 MeV proton or deuteron beam in 2012. The high intensity beam, together with the linac ability to adjust the ion energy provides opportunities for medical research, such as Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) and the production of medical radioisotopes, for instance {sup 103}Pd for prostate brachytherapy.

FFAGs: Front-end for neutrino factories and medical accelerators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mori, Yoshiharu

The idea of Fixed Field Alternating Gradient (FFAG) accelerator was originated by different people and groups in the early 1950s. It was independently introduced by Ohkawa [Ohkawa (1953)], Symon et al. [Symon et al. (1956)], and Kolomensky [Kolomensky and Lebedev (1966)] when the strong Alternate Gradient (AG) focusing and the phase stability schemes were applied to particle acceleration. The first FFAG electron model was developed in the MURA accelerator project led by Kerst and Cole in the late 1950s. Since then, they have fabricated several electron models in the early 1960s [Symon et al. (1956)]. However, the studies did not lead to a single practical FFAG accelerator for the following 50 years. Because of the difficulties of treating non-linear magnetic field and RF acceleration for non-relativistic particles, the proton FFAG, especially, was not accomplished until recently. In 2000, the FFAG concept was revived with the world's first proton FFAG (POP) which was developed at KEK [Aiba (2000); Mori (1999)]. Since then, in many places [Berg (2004); Johnstone et al. (2004); Mori (2011); Ruggiero (2004); Trbojevic (2004)], FFAGs have been developed and constructed...

Spin Tracking of Polarized Protons in the Main Injector at Fermilab

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Xiao, M.; Lorenzon, W.; Aldred, C.

2016-07-01

The Main Injector (MI) at Fermilab currently produces high-intensity beams of protons at energies of 120 GeV for a variety of physics experiments. Acceleration of polarized protons in the MI would provide opportunities for a rich spin physics program at Fermilab. To achieve polarized proton beams in the Fermilab accelerator complex, shown in Fig.1.1, detailed spin tracking simulations with realistic parameters based on the existing facility are required. This report presents studies at the MI using a single 4-twist Si-berian snake to determine the depolarizing spin resonances for the relevant synchrotrons. Results will be presented first for a perfect MImore » lattice, followed by a lattice that includes the real MI imperfections, such as the measured magnet field errors and quadrupole misalignments. The tolerances of each of these factors in maintaining polariza-tion in the Main Injector will be discussed.« less

Generation of quasi-monoenergetic protons from a double-species target driven by the radiation pressure of an ultraintense laser pulse

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pae, Ki Hong; Kim, Chul Min, E-mail: chulmin@gist.ac.kr; Advanced Photonics Research Institute, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Gwangju 61005

In laser-driven proton acceleration, generation of quasi-monoenergetic proton beams has been considered a crucial feature of the radiation pressure acceleration (RPA) scheme, but the required difficult physical conditions have hampered its experimental realization. As a method to generate quasi-monoenergetic protons under experimentally viable conditions, we investigated using double-species targets of controlled composition ratio in order to make protons bunched in the phase space in the RPA scheme. From a modified optimum condition and three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, we showed by varying the ion composition ratio of proton and carbon that quasi-monoenergetic protons could be generated from ultrathin plane targets irradiated withmore » a circularly polarized Gaussian laser pulse. The proposed scheme should facilitate the experimental realization of ultrashort quasi-monoenergetic proton beams for unique applications in high field science.« less

Accelerated short-TE 3D proton echo-planar spectroscopic imaging using 2D-SENSE with a 32-channel array coil.

PubMed

Otazo, Ricardo; Tsai, Shang-Yueh; Lin, Fa-Hsuan; Posse, Stefan

2007-12-01

MR spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) with whole brain coverage in clinically feasible acquisition times still remains a major challenge. A combination of MRSI with parallel imaging has shown promise to reduce the long encoding times and 2D acceleration with a large array coil is expected to provide high acceleration capability. In this work a very high-speed method for 3D-MRSI based on the combination of proton echo planar spectroscopic imaging (PEPSI) with regularized 2D-SENSE reconstruction is developed. Regularization was performed by constraining the singular value decomposition of the encoding matrix to reduce the effect of low-value and overlapped coil sensitivities. The effects of spectral heterogeneity and discontinuities in coil sensitivity across the spectroscopic voxels were minimized by unaliasing the point spread function. As a result the contamination from extracranial lipids was reduced 1.6-fold on average compared to standard SENSE. We show that the acquisition of short-TE (15 ms) 3D-PEPSI at 3 T with a 32 x 32 x 8 spatial matrix using a 32-channel array coil can be accelerated 8-fold (R = 4 x 2) along y-z to achieve a minimum acquisition time of 1 min. Maps of the concentrations of N-acetyl-aspartate, creatine, choline, and glutamate were obtained with moderate reduction in spatial-spectral quality. The short acquisition time makes the method suitable for volumetric metabolite mapping in clinical studies. (c) 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Parametrized energy spectrum of cosmic-ray protons with kinetic energies down to 1 GeV

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tan, L. C.

1985-01-01

A new estimation of the interstellar proton spectrum is made in which the source term of primary protons is taken from shock acceleration theory and the cosmic ray propagation calculation is based on a proposed nonuniform galactic disk model.

The Spallation Neutron Source accelerator system design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Henderson, S.; Abraham, W.; Aleksandrov, A.; Allen, C.; Alonso, J.; Anderson, D.; Arenius, D.; Arthur, T.; Assadi, S.; Ayers, J.; Bach, P.; Badea, V.; Battle, R.; Beebe-Wang, J.; Bergmann, B.; Bernardin, J.; Bhatia, T.; Billen, J.; Birke, T.; Bjorklund, E.; Blaskiewicz, M.; Blind, B.; Blokland, W.; Bookwalter, V.; Borovina, D.; Bowling, S.; Bradley, J.; Brantley, C.; Brennan, J.; Brodowski, J.; Brown, S.; Brown, R.; Bruce, D.; Bultman, N.; Cameron, P.; Campisi, I.; Casagrande, F.; Catalan-Lasheras, N.; Champion, M.; Champion, M.; Chen, Z.; Cheng, D.; Cho, Y.; Christensen, K.; Chu, C.; Cleaves, J.; Connolly, R.; Cote, T.; Cousineau, S.; Crandall, K.; Creel, J.; Crofford, M.; Cull, P.; Cutler, R.; Dabney, R.; Dalesio, L.; Daly, E.; Damm, R.; Danilov, V.; Davino, D.; Davis, K.; Dawson, C.; Day, L.; Deibele, C.; Delayen, J.; DeLong, J.; Demello, A.; DeVan, W.; Digennaro, R.; Dixon, K.; Dodson, G.; Doleans, M.; Doolittle, L.; Doss, J.; Drury, M.; Elliot, T.; Ellis, S.; Error, J.; Fazekas, J.; Fedotov, A.; Feng, P.; Fischer, J.; Fox, W.; Fuja, R.; Funk, W.; Galambos, J.; Ganni, V.; Garnett, R.; Geng, X.; Gentzlinger, R.; Giannella, M.; Gibson, P.; Gillis, R.; Gioia, J.; Gordon, J.; Gough, R.; Greer, J.; Gregory, W.; Gribble, R.; Grice, W.; Gurd, D.; Gurd, P.; Guthrie, A.; Hahn, H.; Hardek, T.; Hardekopf, R.; Harrison, J.; Hatfield, D.; He, P.; Hechler, M.; Heistermann, F.; Helus, S.; Hiatt, T.; Hicks, S.; Hill, J.; Hill, J.; Hoff, L.; Hoff, M.; Hogan, J.; Holding, M.; Holik, P.; Holmes, J.; Holtkamp, N.; Hovater, C.; Howell, M.; Hseuh, H.; Huhn, A.; Hunter, T.; Ilg, T.; Jackson, J.; Jain, A.; Jason, A.; Jeon, D.; Johnson, G.; Jones, A.; Joseph, S.; Justice, A.; Kang, Y.; Kasemir, K.; Keller, R.; Kersevan, R.; Kerstiens, D.; Kesselman, M.; Kim, S.; Kneisel, P.; Kravchuk, L.; Kuneli, T.; Kurennoy, S.; Kustom, R.; Kwon, S.; Ladd, P.; Lambiase, R.; Lee, Y. Y.; Leitner, M.; Leung, K.-N.; Lewis, S.; Liaw, C.; Lionberger, C.; Lo, C. C.; Long, C.; Ludewig, H.; Ludvig, J.; Luft, P.; Lynch, M.; Ma, H.; MacGill, R.; Macha, K.; Madre, B.; Mahler, G.; Mahoney, K.; Maines, J.; Mammosser, J.; Mann, T.; Marneris, I.; Marroquin, P.; Martineau, R.; Matsumoto, K.; McCarthy, M.; McChesney, C.; McGahern, W.; McGehee, P.; Meng, W.; Merz, B.; Meyer, R.; Meyer, R.; Miller, B.; Mitchell, R.; Mize, J.; Monroy, M.; Munro, J.; Murdoch, G.; Musson, J.; Nath, S.; Nelson, R.; Nelson, R.; O`Hara, J.; Olsen, D.; Oren, W.; Oshatz, D.; Owens, T.; Pai, C.; Papaphilippou, I.; Patterson, N.; Patterson, J.; Pearson, C.; Pelaia, T.; Pieck, M.; Piller, C.; Plawski, T.; Plum, M.; Pogge, J.; Power, J.; Powers, T.; Preble, J.; Prokop, M.; Pruyn, J.; Purcell, D.; Rank, J.; Raparia, D.; Ratti, A.; Reass, W.; Reece, K.; Rees, D.; Regan, A.; Regis, M.; Reijonen, J.; Rej, D.; Richards, D.; Richied, D.; Rode, C.; Rodriguez, W.; Rodriguez, M.; Rohlev, A.; Rose, C.; Roseberry, T.; Rowton, L.; Roybal, W.; Rust, K.; Salazer, G.; Sandberg, J.; Saunders, J.; Schenkel, T.; Schneider, W.; Schrage, D.; Schubert, J.; Severino, F.; Shafer, R.; Shea, T.; Shishlo, A.; Shoaee, H.; Sibley, C.; Sims, J.; Smee, S.; Smith, J.; Smith, K.; Spitz, R.; Staples, J.; Stein, P.; Stettler, M.; Stirbet, M.; Stockli, M.; Stone, W.; Stout, D.; Stovall, J.; Strelo, W.; Strong, H.; Sundelin, R.; Syversrud, D.; Szajbler, M.; Takeda, H.; Tallerico, P.; Tang, J.; Tanke, E.; Tepikian, S.; Thomae, R.; Thompson, D.; Thomson, D.; Thuot, M.; Treml, C.; Tsoupas, N.; Tuozzolo, J.; Tuzel, W.; Vassioutchenko, A.; Virostek, S.; Wallig, J.; Wanderer, P.; Wang, Y.; Wang, J. G.; Wangler, T.; Warren, D.; Wei, J.; Weiss, D.; Welton, R.; Weng, J.; Weng, W.-T.; Wezensky, M.; White, M.; Whitlatch, T.; Williams, D.; Williams, E.; Wilson, K.; Wiseman, M.; Wood, R.; Wright, P.; Wu, A.; Ybarrolaza, N.; Young, K.; Young, L.; Yourd, R.; Zachoszcz, A.; Zaltsman, A.; Zhang, S.; Zhang, W.; Zhang, Y.; Zhukov, A.

2014-11-01

The Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) was designed and constructed by a collaboration of six U.S. Department of Energy national laboratories. The SNS accelerator system consists of a 1 GeV linear accelerator and an accumulator ring providing 1.4 MW of proton beam power in microsecond-long beam pulses to a liquid mercury target for neutron production. The accelerator complex consists of a front-end negative hydrogen-ion injector system, an 87 MeV drift tube linear accelerator, a 186 MeV side-coupled linear accelerator, a 1 GeV superconducting linear accelerator, a 248-m circumference accumulator ring and associated beam transport lines. The accelerator complex is supported by ~100 high-power RF power systems, a 2 K cryogenic plant, ~400 DC and pulsed power supply systems, ~400 beam diagnostic devices and a distributed control system handling ~100,000 I/O signals. The beam dynamics design of the SNS accelerator is presented, as is the engineering design of the major accelerator subsystems.

Osaka Symposium and New Accelerator Projects in Japan

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wei, Jie

1997-04-25

The purpose of this presentation was to participate as an invited speaker at the XV RCNP Osaka International Symposium on Multi-GeV High-Performance Accelerators and Related Technology to collaborate with Kyoto University on laser cooling and beam crystallization projects and to give seminars in Beijing and Shanghai on the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider.

High power ring methods and accelerator driven subcritical reactor application

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tahar, Malek Haj

2016-08-07

High power proton accelerators allow providing, by spallation reaction, the neutron fluxes necessary in the synthesis of fissile material, starting from Uranium 238 or Thorium 232. This is the basis of the concept of sub-critical operation of a reactor, for energy production or nuclear waste transmutation, with the objective of achieving cleaner, safer and more efficient process than today’s technologies allow. Designing, building and operating a proton accelerator in the 500-1000 MeV energy range, CW regime, MW power class still remains a challenge nowadays. There is a limited number of installations at present achieving beam characteristics in that class, e.g.,more » PSI in Villigen, 590 MeV CW beam from a cyclotron, SNS in Oakland, 1 GeV pulsed beam from a linear accelerator, in addition to projects as the ESS in Europe, a 5 MW beam from a linear accelerator. Furthermore, coupling an accelerator to a sub-critical nuclear reactor is a challenging proposition: some of the key issues/requirements are the design of a spallation target to withstand high power densities as well as ensure the safety of the installation. These two domains are the grounds of the PhD work: the focus is on the high power ring methods in the frame of the KURRI FFAG collaboration in Japan: upgrade of the installation towards high intensity is crucial to demonstrate the high beam power capability of FFAG. Thus, modeling of the beam dynamics and benchmarking of different codes was undertaken to validate the simulation results. Experimental results revealed some major losses that need to be understood and eventually overcome. By developing analytical models that account for the field defects, one identified major sources of imperfection in the design of scaling FFAG that explain the important tune variations resulting in the crossing of several betatron resonances. A new formula is derived to compute the tunes and properties established that characterize the effect of the field

Predicting Arrival Of Protons Emitted In Solar Flares

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Spagnuolo, John N., Jr.; Schwuttke, Ursula M.; Han, Cecilia S.; Hervias, Felipe

1996-01-01

Visual Utility for Localization of Corona Accelerated Nuclei (VULCAN) computer program provides both advance warnings and insight for post-event analyses of effects of solar flares. Using measurements of peak fluxes, times of detection, flare location, solar wind velocities, and x-ray emissions from Sun, as electronically sent by NOAA (National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration), VULCAN predicts resulting intensities of proton fluxes at various user-chosen points (spacecraft or planets) of solar system. Also predicts times of onset of fluxes of protons and peak values of fluxes.

Potential proton beam therapy for recurrent endometrial cancer in the vagina.

PubMed

Yanazume, Shintaro; Arimura, Takeshi; Kobayashi, Hiroaki; Douchi, Tsutomu

2015-05-01

Proton beam radiotherapy mainly has been used in the gynecological field in patients with cervical cancer. The efficacy of proton beam therapy in patients with recurrent endometrial cancer has not yet been determined. A 77-year-old endometrial cancer patient presented with recurrence in the vagina without distant metastasis following hysterectomy. A hard mass measuring 6 cm originated from the apex of the vagina, surrounded the vaginal cavity, and infiltrated the proximal and distal vagina. The patient received proton beam radiotherapy using a less invasive particle treatment system while minimizing the dose to the surrounding normal tissues. The dose to the planning target volume was 74 Gy (relative biological effectiveness) with 37 fractions. The patient was treated with 150-210-MeV proton beams for 53 days. Proton beam therapy led to the disappearance of tumors without any complications except for grade 1 cystitis although evidence of further complications is not available past our 6-month follow-up period. Proton beam therapy may become a useful treatment modality for recurrent endometrial cancer as well as cervical uterine cancer. © 2014 The Authors. Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Research © 2014 Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Smashing Protons to Smithereens

ScienceCinema

Pleier, Marc-André

2018-01-05

Pleier discusses the extraordinary research taking place at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) — the world’s newest, biggest, and highest energy particle accelerator located at CERN. Pleier is one of hundreds of researchers from around the world working on ATLAS, a seven-story particle detector positioned at a point where the LHC’s oppositely circulating beams of protons slam into one another head-on.

Preferential enhancement of laser-driven carbon ion acceleration from optimized nanostructured surfaces

PubMed Central

Dalui, Malay; Wang, W.-M.; Trivikram, T. Madhu; Sarkar, Subhrangshu; Tata, Sheroy; Jha, J.; Ayyub, P.; Sheng, Z. M.; Krishnamurthy, M.

2015-01-01

High-intensity ultrashort laser pulses focused on metal targets readily generate hot dense plasmas which accelerate ions efficiently and can pave way to compact table-top accelerators. Laser-driven ion acceleration studies predominantly focus on protons, which experience the maximum acceleration owing to their highest charge-to-mass ratio. The possibility of tailoring such schemes for the preferential acceleration of a particular ion species is very much desired but has hardly been explored. Here, we present an experimental demonstration of how the nanostructuring of a copper target can be optimized for enhanced carbon ion acceleration over protons or Cu-ions. Specifically, a thin (≈0.25 μm) layer of 25–30 nm diameter Cu nanoparticles, sputter-deposited on a polished Cu-substrate, enhances the carbon ion energy by about 10-fold at a laser intensity of 1.2×1018  W/cm2. However, particles smaller than 20 nm have an adverse effect on the ion acceleration. Particle-in-cell simulations provide definite pointers regarding the size of nanoparticles necessary for maximizing the ion acceleration. The inherent contrast of the laser pulse is found to play an important role in the species selective ion acceleration. PMID:26153048

Proton Therapy At Siteman Cancer Center: The State Of The Art

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bloch, Charles

2011-06-01

Barnes-Jewish Hospital is on the verge of offering proton radiation therapy to its patients. Those treatments will be delivered from the first Monarch 250, a state-of-the-art cyclotron produced by Still River Systems, Inc., Littleton, MA. The accelerator is the world's first superconducting synchrocyclotron, with a field-strength of 10 tesla, providing the smallest accelerator for high-energy protons currently available. On May 14, 2010 it was announced that the first production unit had successfully extracted 250 MeV protons. That unit is scheduled for delivery to the Siteman Cancer Center, an NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center at Washington University School of Medicine. At a weight of 20 tons and with a diameter of less than 2 meters the compact cyclotron will be mounted on a gantry, another first for proton therapy systems. The single-energy system includes 3 contoured scatterers and 14 different range modulators to provide 24 distinct beam delivery configurations. This allows proton fields up to 25 cm in diameter, with a maximum range from 5.5 to 32 cm and spread-out-Bragg-peak extent up to 20 cm. Monte Carlo simulations have been run using MCNPX to simulate the clinical beam properties. Those calculations have been used to commission a commercial treatment planning system prior to final clinical measurements. MCNPX was also used to calculate the neutron background generated by protons in the scattering system and patient. Additional details of the facility and current status will be presented.

Field measurement of nitromethane from automotive emissions at a busy intersection using proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Inomata, Satoshi; Fujitani, Yuji; Fushimi, Akihiro; Tanimoto, Hiroshi; Sekimoto, Kanako; Yamada, Hiroyuki

2014-10-01

Field measurements of seven nitro-organic compounds including nitromethane and ten related volatile organic compounds were carried out using proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometry at a busy intersection of an urban city, Kawasaki, Japan from 26th February to 6th March, 2011. Among the nitro-organic compounds, nitromethane was usually observed along with air pollutants emitted from automobiles. The mixing ratios of nitromethane varied substantially and sometimes clearly varied at an approximately constant interval. The interval corresponded to the cycle of the traffic signals at the intersection and the regular peaks of nitromethane concentrations were caused by emissions from diesel trucks running with high speed. In addition to the regular peaks, sharp increases of nitromethane concentrations were often observed irregularly from diesel trucks accelerating in front of the measurement site. For other nitro-organic compounds such as nitrophenol, nitrocresol, dihydroxynitrobenzene, nitrobenzene, nitrotoluene, and nitronaphthalene, most of the data fluctuated within the detection limits.

Accelerated radiation damage test facility using a 5 MV tandem ion accelerator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wady, P. T.; Draude, A.; Shubeita, S. M.; Smith, A. D.; Mason, N.; Pimblott, S. M.; Jimenez-Melero, E.

2016-01-01

We have developed a new irradiation facility that allows to perform accelerated damage tests of nuclear reactor materials at temperatures up to 400 °C using the intense proton (<100 μA) and heavy ion (≈10 μA) beams produced by a 5 MV tandem ion accelerator. The dedicated beam line for radiation damage studies comprises: (1) beam diagnosis and focusing optical components, (2) a scanning and slit system that allows uniform irradiation of a sample area of 0.5-6 cm2, and (3) a sample stage designed to be able to monitor in-situ the sample temperature, current deposited on the sample, and the gamma spectrum of potential radio-active nuclides produced during the sample irradiation. The beam line capabilities have been tested by irradiating a 20Cr-25Ni-Nb stabilised stainless steel with a 3 MeV proton beam to a dose level of 3 dpa. The irradiation temperature was 356 °C, with a maximum range in temperature values of ±6 °C within the first 24 h of continuous irradiation. The sample stage is connected to ground through an electrometer to measure accurately the charge deposited on the sample. The charge can be integrated in hardware during irradiation, and this methodology removes uncertainties due to fluctuations in beam current. The measured gamma spectrum allowed the identification of the main radioactive nuclides produced during the proton bombardment from the lifetimes and gamma emissions. This dedicated radiation damage beam line is hosted by the Dalton Cumbrian Facility of the University of Manchester.

New developments of 11C post-accelerated beams for hadron therapy and imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Augusto, R. S.; Mendonca, T. M.; Wenander, F.; Penescu, L.; Orecchia, R.; Parodi, K.; Ferrari, A.; Stora, T.

2016-06-01

Hadron therapy was first proposed in 1946 and is by now widespread throughout the world, as witnessed with the design and construction of the CNAO, HIT, PROSCAN and MedAustron treatment centres, among others. The clinical interest in hadron therapy lies in the fact that it delivers precision treatment of tumours, exploiting the characteristic shape (the Bragg peak) of the energy deposition in the tissues for charged hadrons. In particular, carbon ion therapy is found to be biologically more effective, with respect to protons, on certain types of tumours. Following an approach tested at NIRS in Japan [1], carbon ion therapy treatments based on 12C could be combined or fully replaced with 11C PET radioactive ions post-accelerated to the same energy. This approach allows providing a beam for treatment and, at the same time, to collect information on the 3D distributions of the implanted ions by PET imaging. The production of 11C ion beams can be performed using two methods. A first one is based on the production using compact PET cyclotrons with 10-20 MeV protons via 14N(p,α)11C reactions following an approach developed at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory [2]. A second route exploits spallation reactions 19F(p,X)11C and 23Na(p,X)11C on a molten fluoride salt target using the ISOL (isotope separation on-line) technique [3]. This approach can be seriously envisaged at CERN-ISOLDE following recent progresses made on 11C+ production [4] and proven post-acceleration of pure 10C3/6+ beams in the REX-ISOLDE linac [5]. Part of the required components is operational in radioactive ion beam facilities or commercial medical PET cyclotrons. The driver could be a 70 MeV, 1.2 mA proton commercial cyclotron, which would lead to 8.1 × 10711C6+ per spill. This intensity is appropriate using 11C ions alone for both imaging and treatment. Here we report on the ongoing feasibility studies of such approach, using the Monte Carlo particle transport code FLUKA [6,7] to simulate

Preliminary map of peak horizontal ground acceleration for the Hanshin-Awaji earthquake of January 17, 1995, Japan - Description of Mapped Data Sets

USGS Publications Warehouse

Borcherdt, R.D.; Mark, R.K.

1995-01-01

The Hanshin-Awaji earthquake (also known as the Hyogo-ken Nanbu and the Great Hanshin earthquake) provided an unprecedented set of measurements of strong ground shaking. The measurements constitute the most comprehensive set of strong- motion recordings yet obtained for sites underlain by soft soil deposits of Holocene age within a few kilometers of the crustal rupture zone. The recordings, obtained on or near many important structures, provide an important new empirical data set for evaluating input ground motion levels and site amplification factors for codes and site-specific design procedures world wide. This report describes the data used to prepare a preliminary map summarizing the strong motion data in relation to seismicity and underlying geology (Wentworth, Borcherdt, and Mark., 1995; Figure 1, hereafter referred to as Figure 1/I). The map shows station locations, peak acceleration values, and generalized acceleration contours superimposed on pertinent seismicity and the geologic map of Japan. The map (Figure 1/I) indicates a zone of high acceleration with ground motions throughout the zone greater than 400 gal and locally greater than 800 gal. This zone encompasses the area of most intense damage mapped as JMA intensity level 7, which extends through Kobe City. The zone of most intense damage is parallel, but displaced slightly from the surface projection of the crustal rupture zone implied by aftershock locations. The zone is underlain by soft-soil deposits of Holocene age.

Multi-species first-principles simulations of particle acceleration at shocks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Caprioli, Damiano

Astrophysical shocks are known to be prominent sources of non-thermal particles and emission. In particular, strong shocks at supernova remnant blast waves are thought to accelerate Galactic cosmic rays (CRs) up to about 10^17eV via diffusive shock acceleration (DSA). The chemical composition of Galactic CRs, now measured with great accuracy by payloads and satellites, is reminiscent of that of the typical interstellar medium, although with some significant deviations. Observations reveal: 1) an electron/proton ratio of about 1% at about 10 GeV, (2) a general enhancement of the refractory elements relative to the volatile ones, (3) among the volatile elements, an enhancement of the heavier elements relative to the lighter ones, and (4) a discrepant hardening of CR nuclei heavier than hydrogen. Such peculiar trends contain precious information about the dependence of the acceleration process on the particle mass/charge ratio, a trend that has no theoretical counterpart in the DSA theory, yet. Building on our recent successes in modeling electron and proton DSA at non-relativistic astrophysical shocks via first-principles kinetic simulations, we will perform multispecies particle-in-cells simulations of such systems also including nuclei heavier than hydrogen, in order to investigate thermalization, injection, and acceleration of species with different mass/charge ratio. We will also analyze how the simulation outputs compare with the observed CR abundances, in order to build a model for DSA that accounts for the relative acceleration efficiency of energetic electrons, protons, and heavier ions. Finally, we will assess the possible contribution of accelerated heavy ions, especially helium, to the generation of magnetic turbulence via CR-driven instabilities - crucial to foster rapid particle energgization- and to the hadronic gamma-ray emission from young supernova remnants.

Laser-driven collimated tens-GeV monoenergetic protons from mass-limited target plus preformed channel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zheng, F. L.; Wu, S. Z.; Wu, H. C.; Zhou, C. T.; Cai, H. B.; Yu, M. Y.; Tajima, T.; Yan, X. Q.; He, X. T.

2013-01-01

Proton acceleration by ultra-intense laser pulse irradiating a target with cross-section smaller than the laser spot size and connected to a parabolic density channel is investigated. The target splits the laser into two parallel propagating parts, which snowplow the back-side plasma electrons along their paths, creating two adjacent parallel wakes and an intense return current in the gap between them. The radiation-pressure pre-accelerated target protons trapped in the wake fields now undergo acceleration as well as collimation by the quasistatic wake electrostatic and magnetic fields. Particle-in-cell simulations show that stable long-distance acceleration can be realized, and a 30 fs monoenergetic ion beam of >10 GeV peak energy and <2° divergence can be produced by a circularly polarized laser pulse at an intensity of about 1022 W/cm2.

Boosting laser-ion acceleration with multi-picosecond pulses

PubMed Central

Yogo, A.; Mima, K.; Iwata, N.; Tosaki, S.; Morace, A.; Arikawa, Y.; Fujioka, S.; Johzaki, T.; Sentoku, Y.; Nishimura, H.; Sagisaka, A.; Matsuo, K.; Kamitsukasa, N.; Kojima, S.; Nagatomo, H.; Nakai, M.; Shiraga, H.; Murakami, M.; Tokita, S.; Kawanaka, J.; Miyanaga, N.; Yamanoi, K.; Norimatsu, T.; Sakagami, H.; Bulanov, S. V.; Kondo, K.; Azechi, H.

2017-01-01

Using one of the world most powerful laser facility, we demonstrate for the first time that high-contrast multi-picosecond pulses are advantageous for proton acceleration. By extending the pulse duration from 1.5 to 6 ps with fixed laser intensity of 1018 W cm−2, the maximum proton energy is improved more than twice (from 13 to 33 MeV). At the same time, laser-energy conversion efficiency into the MeV protons is enhanced with an order of magnitude, achieving 5% for protons above 6 MeV with the 6 ps pulse duration. The proton energies observed are discussed using a plasma expansion model newly developed that takes the electron temperature evolution beyond the ponderomotive energy in the over picoseconds interaction into account. The present results are quite encouraging for realizing ion-driven fast ignition and novel ion beamlines. PMID:28211913

Protonation Dynamics on Lipid Nanodiscs: Influence of the Membrane Surface Area and External Buffers.

PubMed

Xu, Lei; Öjemyr, Linda Näsvik; Bergstrand, Jan; Brzezinski, Peter; Widengren, Jerker

2016-05-10

Lipid membrane surfaces can act as proton-collecting antennae, accelerating proton uptake by membrane-bound proton transporters. We investigated this phenomenon in lipid nanodiscs (NDs) at equilibrium on a local scale, analyzing fluorescence fluctuations of individual pH-sensitive fluorophores at the membrane surface by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS). The protonation rate of the fluorophores was ∼100-fold higher when located at 9- and 12-nm diameter NDs, compared to when in solution, indicating that the proton-collecting antenna effect is maximal already for a membrane area of ∼60 nm(2). Fluorophore-labeled cytochrome c oxidase displayed a similar increase when reconstituted in 12 nm NDs, but not in 9 nm NDs, i.e., an acceleration of the protonation rate at the surface of cytochrome c oxidase is found when the lipid area surrounding the protein is larger than 80 nm(2), but not when below 30 nm(2). We also investigated the effect of external buffers on the fluorophore proton exchange rates at the ND membrane-water interfaces. With increasing buffer concentrations, the proton exchange rates were found to first decrease and then, at millimolar buffer concentrations, to increase. Monte Carlo simulations, based on a simple kinetic model of the proton exchange at the membrane-water interface, and using rate parameter values determined in our FCS experiments, could reconstruct both the observed membrane-size and the external buffer dependence. The FCS data in combination with the simulations indicate that the local proton diffusion coefficient along a membrane is ∼100 times slower than that observed over submillimeter distances by proton-pulse experiments (Ds ∼ 10(-5)cm(2)/s), and support recent theoretical studies showing that proton diffusion along membrane surfaces is time- and length-scale dependent. Copyright © 2016 Biophysical Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

On the equilibrium between proton kappa distribution and compressible kinetic Alfvenic fluctuations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yoon, P. H.

2017-12-01

Protons with a quasi inverse power law energetic population featuring the property f v-α, with α close to 5, are pervasively observed in the heliosphere. While many theoretical attempts have been made in order to describe such a feature, the so-called pump acceleration mechanism put forth by Fisk & Gloeckler is one of the most prominent theories. Their mechanism involves the low-frequency compressional fluctuations accelerating the protons. This presentation aims to reformulate the problem from the perspective of the steady state solution of the self-consistent plasma kinetic theory involving compressible kinetic Alfvenic fluctuations. By considering the steady state proton particle kinetic equation and quasi-linear wave kinetic for the kinetic Alfvenic turbulence we seek to obtain concomitant solutions for both proton velocity distribution function and the spectral intensity for kinetic Alfvenic fluctuation. It is found that the kappa distribution for the protons is a legitimate, if not unique, solution. The steady state spectrum of kinetic Alfvenic fluctuation is also obtained. The present investigation demonstrates that the kappa distribution for the protons featuring energetic tail population characterized by f v-2κ-2, where κ is the parameter for kappa distribution, may represent the background population of the protons in the heliosphere. However, it is speculated that in order to uniquely determine the value of κ, which must be close to 1.5 for asymptotic behavior of f v-5, one must have an additional constraint that involves the balance of nonlinear mode coupling terms in the wave kinetic equation.

Overtaking collision effects in a cw double-pass proton linac

DOE PAGES

Tao, Yue; Qiang, Ji; Hwang, Kilean

2017-12-22

The recirculating superconducting proton linac has the advantage of reducing the number of cavities in the accelerator and the corresponding construction and operational costs. Beam dynamics simulations were done recently in a double-pass recirculating proton linac using a single proton beam bunch. For continuous wave (cw) operation, the high-energy proton bunch during the second pass through the linac will overtake and collide with the low-energy bunch during the first pass at a number of locations of the linac. These collisions might cause proton bunch emittance growth and beam quality degradation. Here, we study the collisional effects due to Coulomb space-chargemore » forces between the high-energy bunch and the low-energy bunch. Our results suggest that these effects on the proton beam quality would be small and might not cause significant emittance growth or beam blowup through the linac. A 10 mA, 500 MeV cw double-pass proton linac is feasible without using extra hardware for phase synchronization.« less

Overtaking collision effects in a cw double-pass proton linac

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tao, Yue; Qiang, Ji; Hwang, Kilean

The recirculating superconducting proton linac has the advantage of reducing the number of cavities in the accelerator and the corresponding construction and operational costs. Beam dynamics simulations were done recently in a double-pass recirculating proton linac using a single proton beam bunch. For continuous wave (cw) operation, the high-energy proton bunch during the second pass through the linac will overtake and collide with the low-energy bunch during the first pass at a number of locations of the linac. These collisions might cause proton bunch emittance growth and beam quality degradation. Here, we study the collisional effects due to Coulomb space-chargemore » forces between the high-energy bunch and the low-energy bunch. Our results suggest that these effects on the proton beam quality would be small and might not cause significant emittance growth or beam blowup through the linac. A 10 mA, 500 MeV cw double-pass proton linac is feasible without using extra hardware for phase synchronization.« less

Long-pulse beam acceleration of MeV-class H(-) ion beams for ITER NB accelerator.

PubMed

Umeda, N; Kashiwagi, M; Taniguchi, M; Tobari, H; Watanabe, K; Dairaku, M; Yamanaka, H; Inoue, T; Kojima, A; Hanada, M

2014-02-01

In order to realize neutral beam systems in International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor whose target is to produce a 1 MeV, 200 A/m(2) during 3600 s D(-) ion beam, the electrostatic five-stages negative ion accelerator so-called "MeV accelerator" has been developed at Japan Atomic Energy Agency. To extend pulse length, heat load of the acceleration grids was reduced by controlling the ion beam trajectory. Namely, the beam deflection due to the residual magnetic field of filter magnet was suppressed with the newly developed extractor with a 0.5 mm off-set aperture displacement. The new extractor improved the deflection angle from 6 mrad to 1 mrad, resulting in the reduction of direct interception of negative ions from 23% to 15% of the total acceleration power, respectively. As a result, the pulse length of 130 A/m(2), 881 keV H(-) ion beam has been successfully extended from a previous value of 0.4 s to 8.7 s. This is the first long pulse negative ion beam acceleration over 100 MW/m(2).

SNS proton power upgrade

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Howell, M.; DeGraff, B.; Galambos, J.; Kim, S.-H.

2017-12-01

The Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is preparing for the Proton Power Upgrade (PPU) project to increase the output energy of the accelerator from 1.0 GeV to 1.3 GeV. As part of this project with the combination of increasing the output energy and beam current, the beam power capability will be doubled from 1.4MW to 2.8MW. In this project, seven new high beta cryomodules housing 28 superconducting niobium cavities will be added to the LINAC tunnel. Lessons learned from over ten years of operation will be incorporated into the new cryomodule and cavity design. The design and the fabrication of these cryomodules and how these will be integrated into the existing accelerator will be detailed in this paper.

The mechatronic design of a fast wire scanner in IHEP U-70 accelerator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baranov, V. T.; Makhov, S. S.; Savin, D. A.; Terekhov, V. I.

2016-10-01

This paper presents the mechatronic design of a fast wire scanner based on a servomotor. The design of the wire scanner is motivated by the need to measure the transverse profile of the high power proton and carbon beams at the IHEP U-70 accelerator. This paper formulates the requirements to the fast wire scanner system for the high intensity proton beam at the U-70 accelerator. The results on the design of electro-mechanical device for the wire scanner with a wire traveling speed 10-20 m/s are presented. The solution consists in a brushless servomotor and standard motor control electronics. High radiation levels in the accelerator enclosure dictate the use of a resolver as the position feedback element.

Rayleigh-Taylor instability of two-specie laser-accelerated foils

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ratliff, T. H.; Yi, S. A.; Khudik, V.; Yu, T. P.; Pukhov, A.; Chen, M.; Shvets, G.

2010-11-01

When an ultra intense circularly polarized laser pulse irradiates an ultra thin film, a monoenergetic ion beam is produced with characteristics well suited for applications in science and medicine. Upon laser incidence, the electrons in the foil are pushed via the ponderomotive force to the foil rear; the charge separation field then accelerates ions. In the accelerating frame the ions are trapped in a potential well formed by the electrostatic and inertial forces. However, their energy spectrum can be quickly degraded by the Rayleigh-Taylor (RT) instability. Stabilization in the case of a two-specie foil is the subject of this poster. First, we use a 1D particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation to establish an equilibrium state of the two-specie foil in the accelerating frame. Next we perturb this equilibrium and analytically investigate the 2D RT instability. Analytical results are compared with 2-D simulations. We also investigate parametrically various effects on the RT growth rate. The protons completely separate from the carbons, and although the vacuum-carbon interface remains unstable, the large spatial extent of the carbon layer prevents perturbations from feeding through to the proton layer. The monoenergetic proton beam is shown to persist beyond the conclusion of the laser pulse interaction. [1] T.P. Yu, A. Pukhov, G. Shvets, and M Chen, Phys. Rev. Lett. (in press)

Commissioning of a compact laser-based proton beam line for high intensity bunches around 10Â MeV

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Busold, S.; Schumacher, D.; Deppert, O.; Brabetz, C.; Kroll, F.; Blažević, A.; Bagnoud, V.; Roth, M.

2014-03-01

We report on the first results of experiments with a new laser-based proton beam line at the GSI accelerator facility in Darmstadt. It delivers high current bunches at proton energies around 9.6 MeV, containing more than 109 particles in less than 10 ns and with tunable energy spread down to 2.7% (ΔE/E0 at FWHM). A target normal sheath acceleration stage serves as a proton source and a pulsed solenoid provides for beam collimation and energy selection. Finally a synchronous radio frequency (rf) field is applied via a rf cavity for energy compression at a synchronous phase of -90 deg. The proton bunch is characterized at the end of the very compact beam line, only 3 m behind the laser matter interaction point, which defines the particle source.

Scintillator-based transverse proton beam profiler for laser-plasma ion sources.

PubMed

Dover, N P; Nishiuchi, M; Sakaki, H; Alkhimova, M A; Faenov, A Ya; Fukuda, Y; Kiriyama, H; Kon, A; Kondo, K; Nishitani, K; Ogura, K; Pikuz, T A; Pirozhkov, A S; Sagisaka, A; Kando, M; Kondo, K

2017-07-01

A high repetition rate scintillator-based transverse beam profile diagnostic for laser-plasma accelerated proton beams has been designed and commissioned. The proton beam profiler uses differential filtering to provide coarse energy resolution and a flexible design to allow optimisation for expected beam energy range and trade-off between spatial and energy resolution depending on the application. A plastic scintillator detector, imaged with a standard 12-bit scientific camera, allows data to be taken at a high repetition rate. An algorithm encompassing the scintillator non-linearity is described to estimate the proton spectrum at different spatial locations.

Design Challenges of a Rapid Cycling Synchrotron for Carbon/Proton Therapy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cook, Nathan

2012-03-01

The growing interest in radiation therapy with protons and light ions has driven demand for new methods of ion acceleration and the delivery of ion beams. One exciting new platform for ion beam acceleration and delivery is the rapid cycling synchrotron. Operating at 15Hz, rapid cycling achieves faster treatment times by making beam extraction possible at any energy during the cycle. Moreover, risk to the patient is reduced by requiring fewer particles in the beam line at a given time, thus eliminating the need for passive filtering and reducing the consequences of a malfunction. Lastly, the ability to switch between carbon ion and proton beam therapy provides the machine with an unmatched flexibility. However, these features do stipulate challenges in accelerator design. Maintaining a compact lattice requires careful tuning of lattice functions, tight focusing combined function magnets, and fast injection and extraction systems. Providing the necessary acceleration over a short cycle time also necessitates a five-fold frequency swing for carbon ions, further burdening the design requirements of ferrite-driven radiofrequency cavities. We will consider these challenges as well as some solutions selected for our current design.

Testing cosmic ray acceleration with radio relics: a high-resolution study using MHD and tracers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wittor, D.; Vazza, F.; Brüggen, M.

2017-02-01

Weak shocks in the intracluster medium may accelerate cosmic-ray protons and cosmic-ray electrons differently depending on the angle between the upstream magnetic field and the shock normal. In this work, we investigate how shock obliquity affects the production of cosmic rays in high-resolution simulations of galaxy clusters. For this purpose, we performed a magnetohydrodynamical simulation of a galaxy cluster using the mesh refinement code ENZO. We use Lagrangian tracers to follow the properties of the thermal gas, the cosmic rays and the magnetic fields over time. We tested a number of different acceleration scenarios by varying the obliquity-dependent acceleration efficiencies of protons and electrons, and by examining the resulting hadronic γ-ray and radio emission. We find that the radio emission does not change significantly if only quasi-perpendicular shocks are able to accelerate cosmic-ray electrons. Our analysis suggests that radio-emitting electrons found in relics have been typically shocked many times before z = 0. On the other hand, the hadronic γ-ray emission from clusters is found to decrease significantly if only quasi-parallel shocks are allowed to accelerate cosmic ray protons. This might reduce the tension with the low upper limits on γ-ray emission from clusters set by the Fermi satellite.

Supernova Remnant Kes 17: An Efficient Cosmic Ray Accelerator inside a Molecular Cloud

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gelfand, Joseph; Slane, Patrick; Hughes, John; Temim, Tea; Castro, Daniel; Rakowski, Cara

Supernova remnant are believed to be the dominant source of cosmic rays protons below the "knee" in the energy spectrum. However, relatively few supernova remnants have been identified as efficient producers of cosmic ray protons. In this talk, I will present evidence that the production of cosmic ray protons is required to explain the broadband non-thermal spectrum of supernova remnant Kes 17 (SNR G304.6+0.1). Evidence for efficient cosmic ray acceleration in Kes 17 supports recent theoretical work concluding that the strong magnetic field, turbulence, and clumpy nature of molecular clouds enhance cosmic ray production in supernova remnants. While additional observations are needed to confirm this interpretation, further study of Kes 17 and similar sources are important for understanding how cosmic rays are accelerated in supernova remnants.

Comparison of proton beam radiotherapy and hyper-fractionated accelerated chemoradiotherapy for locally advanced pancreatic cancer.

PubMed

Maemura, Kosei; Mataki, Yuko; Kurahara, Hiroshi; Kawasaki, Yota; Iino, Satoshi; Sakoda, Masahiko; Ueno, Shinichi; Arimura, Takeshi; Higashi, Ryutaro; Yoshiura, Takashi; Shinchi, Hiroyuki; Natsugoe, Shoji

We compared the clinical outcomes of proton beam radiotherapy (PBRT) and those of conventional chemoradiotherapy via hyper-fractionated acceleration radiotherapy (HART) after induction chemotherapy in patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer (LAPC). Twenty-five consecutive patients with LAPC received induction chemotherapy comprising gemcitabine and S-1 before radiotherapy. Of these, 15 and 10 were enrolled in the HART and PBRT groups, respectively. Moderate hematological toxicities were observed only in the HART group, whereas two patients in the PBRT group developed duodenal ulcers. All patients underwent scheduled radiotherapy, with overall disease control rates of 93% and 80% in the HART and PBRT groups, respectively. Local progression was observed in 60% and 40% of patients in the HART and PBRT groups, respectively. However, there was no statistical significance between the two groups regarding the median time to progression (15.4 months in both) and the median overall survival (23.4 v.s. 22.3 months). PBRT was feasible and tolerable, and scheduled protocols could be completed with careful attention to gastrointestinal ulcers. Despite the lower incidence of local recurrence, PBRT did not yield obvious progression control and survival benefits relative to conventional chemoradiotherapy. Copyright © 2017 IAP and EPC. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Beams of protons and alpha particles greater than approximately 30 keV/charge from the earth's bow shock

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Scholer, M.; Ipavich, F. M.; Gloeckler, G.

1981-01-01

Two beamlike particle events (30 keV/charge to 160 keV/charge) upstream of the earth's bow shock have been investigated with the Max-Planck-Institut/University of Maryland ultralow energy and charge analyzer on ISEE 1. These beams consist of protons as well as of alpha particles, and the spectra are generally steep and are decreasing with increasing energy. During one event the spectra of both protons and alpha particles have a maximum at approximately 65 keV/charge. During these events, the interplanetary magnetic field through the satellite position was almost tangent to the bow shock, and application of the theory of acceleration predicts acceleration of a solar wind particle up to 60 keV/nucleon in a single reflection. The observation of reflected protons as well as alpha particles has implications for the physical reflection process usually not discussed in acceleration theories.

Source of polarized ions for the JINR accelerator complex

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Belov, A. S.; Donets, D. E.; Fimushkin, V. V.; Kovalenko, A. D.; Kutuzova, L. V.; Prokofichev, Yu V.; Shutov, V. B.; Turbabin, A. V.; Zubets, V. N.

2017-12-01

The JINR atomic beam type polarized ion source is described. Results of tests of the plasma ionizer with a storage cell and of tuning of high frequency transition units are presented. The source was installed in a linac injector hall of NUCLOTRON in May 2016. The source has been commissioned and used in the NUCLOTRON runs in 2016 and February - March 2017. Polarized and unpolarized deuteron beams were produced as well as polarized protons for acceleration in the NUCLOTRON. Polarized deuteron beam with pulsed current up to 2 mA has been produced. Deuteron beam polarization of 0.6-0.9 of theoretical values for different modes of high frequency transition units operation has been measured with the NUCLOTRON ring internal polarimeter for the accelerated deuteron and proton beams.

Proton Induced X-ray Emission Spectroscopy of Red Wine Samples Using the Union College Pelletron Accelerator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schuff, Katie; Labrake, Scott

2010-11-01

A 1-megavolt tandem electrostatic Pelletron particle accelerator housed at Union College was used to measure the elemental composition and concentration of homemade Cabernet and Merlot red wine samples. A beam of 1.8-MeV protons directed at an approximately 12-μm thin Mylar substrate onto which 8-μL of concentrated red wine was dried caused inner shell electrons to be ejected from the target nuclei and these vacancies are filled through electronic transitions of higher orbital electrons accompanied by the production of an x-ray photon characteristic of the elemental composition of the target. This is the PIXE Method. Data on the intensity versus energy of the x-rays were collected using an Amptek silicon drift detector and were analyzed to determine the elemental composition and the samples were found to contain P, S, K, Cl, Ca, Sc, Mn, Al, Fe, & Co. Elemental concentrations were determined using the analysis package GUPIX. It is hypothesized that the cobalt seen is a direct result of the uptake by the grapes and as a product of the fermentation process a complex of vitamin B12 is produced.

The history and future of accelerator radiological protection.

PubMed

Thomas, R H

2001-01-01

The development of accelerator radiological protection from the mid-1930s, just after the invention of the cyclotron, to the present day is described. Three major themes--physics, personalities and politics--are developed. In the sections describing physics the development of shielding design though measurement, radiation transport calculations, the impact of accelerators on the environment and dosimetry in accelerator radiation fields are described. The discussion is limited to high-energy, high-intensity electron and proton accelerators. The impact of notable personalities on the development of both the basic science and on the accelerator health physics profession itself is described. The important role played by scholars and teachers is discussed. In the final section. which discusses the future of accelerator radiological protection, some emphasis is given to the social and political aspects that must he faced in the years ahead.

Production of isotopes using high power proton beams

DOEpatents

Nolen, Jr., Jerry A.; Gomes, Itacil C.

2015-12-01

The invention provides for a method for producing isotopes using a beam of particles from an accelerator, whereby the beam is maintained at between about 70 to 2000 MeV; and contacting a thorium-containing target with the particles. The medically important isotope .sup.225Ac is produced via the nuclear reaction (p,2p6n), whereby an energetic proton causes the ejection of 2 protons and 6 neutrons from a .sup.232Th target nucleus. Another medically important isotope .sup.213Bi is then available as a decay product. The production of highly purified .sup.211At is also provided.

MMS Observations of Protons and Heavy Ions Acceleration at Plasma Jet Fronts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Catapano, F.; Retino, A.; Zimbardo, G.; Cozzani, G.; Breuillard, H.; Le Contel, O.; Alexandrova, A.; Mirioni, L.; Cohen, I. J.; Turner, D. L.; Perri, S.; Greco, A.; Mauk, B.; Torbert, R. B.; Russell, C. T.; Khotyaintsev, Y. V.; Lindqvist, P. A.; Ergun, R.; Giles, B. L.; Fuselier, S. A.; Moore, T. E.; Burch, J.

2017-12-01

Plasma jet fronts in the Earth's magnetotail are kinetic-scale boundaries separating hot fast plasma jets, generally attributed to reconnection outflows, from colder ambient plasma. Jet fronts are typically associated with a sharp increase of the vertical component of the magnetic field Bz, an increase of the plasma temperature and a drop of plasma density. Spacecraft observations and numerical simulations indicate that jet fronts are sites of major ion acceleration. The exact acceleration mechanisms as well as the dependence of such mechanisms on ion composition are not fully understood, yet. Recent high-resolution measurements of ion distribution functions in the magnetotail allow for the first time to study the acceleration mechanisms in detail. Here, we show several examples of jet fronts and discuss ion acceleration therein. We show fronts that propagate in the mid-tail magnetotail both as isolated laminar boundaries and as multiple boundaries embedded in strong magnetic fluctuations and turbulence. We also show fronts in the near-Earth jet braking region, where they interact with the dipolar magnetic field and are significantly decelerated/diverted. Finally, we study the acceleration of different ion species (H+, He++, O+) at different types of fronts and we discuss possible different acceleration mechanisms and how they depend on the ion species.

EDITORIAL: Laser and Plasma Accelerators Workshop, Kardamyli, Greece, 2009 Laser and Plasma Accelerators Workshop, Kardamyli, Greece, 2009

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bingham, Bob; Muggli, Patric

2011-01-01

-resolved radiobiology or chemistry. Such laser-generated beams will form the basis of the fifth generation light sources and will be compact versions of the much more expensive fourth generation XFEL, such as LCLS light sources. Laser-driven ion acceleration is also making rapid headway; one of the goals in these experiments is to produce protons and carbon ions of hundreds of MeV for oncology. These experiments are carried out using solid-target-laser interactions. There is still a number of issues to be resolved in these experiments including the origin of light ions. The paper by Willingale et al addresses this issue and demonstrates that deuteron ions originating from the front surface can gain comparable energies as those from the rear surface. Furthermore, from two-dimensional simulations they show that a proton-rich contamination layer over the surface is detrimental to deuteron ion acceleration from the rear surface but not detrimental to the front surface acceleration mechanism. Studies of different laser polarizations on ion acceleration at the rear surface were reported by Antici et al. It was shown that no real enhancement using a particular polarization was found. At higher radiation intensities, especially with the multi-petawatt lasers being planned, radiation reaction becomes important. This was reported by Chen et al who found that radiation reaction effects on ion acceleration in laser-foil interactions impeded the backward moving electrons, which enhanced the ion acceleration. An interesting new development is the use of ultra-relativistic proton beams to drive plasma wakefields. This is similar to the SLAC electron-beam-driven wakefields. However, unlike the SLAC electron beam, which is of the order of 30 fs long and matches the period of the plasma wave necessary to create the blowout or bubble regime, the ion beam is very much longer. To create shorter ion beams a magnetic compression scheme is investigated in the paper by Caldwell et al, and results for proton

The Proton Synchrotron (PS): At the Core of the CERN Accelerators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cundy, Donald; Gilardoni, Simone

The following sections are included: * Introduction * Extraction: Getting the Beam to Leave the Accelerator * Acceleration and Bunch Gymnastics * Boosting PS Beam Intensity * Capacitive Energy Storage Replaces Flywheel * Taking the Neutrinos by the Horns * OMEGA: Towards the Electronic Bubble Chamber * ISOLDE: Targeting a New Era in Nuclear Physics * The CERN n_TOF Facility: Catching Neutrons on the Fly * References

Stochastic Acceleration of Ions Driven by Pc1 Wave Packets

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Khazanov, G. V.; Sibeck, D. G.; Tel'nikhin, A. A.; Kronberg, T. K.

2015-01-01

The stochastic motion of protons and He(sup +) ions driven by Pc1 wave packets is studied in the context of resonant particle heating. Resonant ion cyclotron heating typically occurs when wave powers exceed 10(exp -4) nT sq/Hz. Gyroresonance breaks the first adiabatic invariant and energizes keV ions. Cherenkov resonances with the electrostatic component of wave packets can also accelerate ions. The main effect of this interaction is to accelerate thermal protons to the local Alfven speed. The dependencies of observable quantities on the wave power and plasma parameters are determined, and estimates for the heating extent and rate of particle heating in these wave-particle interactions are shown to be in reasonable agreement with known empirical data.

X-ray Observations of Cosmic Ray Acceleration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Petre, Robert

2012-01-01

Since the discovery of cosmic rays, detection of their sources has remained elusive. A major breakthrough has come through the identification of synchrotron X-rays from the shocks of supernova remnants through imaging and spectroscopic observations by the most recent generation of X-ray observatories. This radiation is most likely produced by electrons accelerated to relativistic energy, and thus has offered the first, albeit indirect, observational evidence that diffusive shock acceleration in supernova remnants produces cosmic rays to TeV energies, possibly as high as the "knee" in the cosmic ray spectrum. X-ray observations have provided information about the maximum energy to which these shOCks accelerate electrons, as well as indirect evidence of proton acceleration. Shock morphologies measured in X-rays have indicated that a substantial fraction of the shock energy can be diverted into particle acceleration. This presentation will summarize what we have learned about cosmic ray acceleration from X-ray observations of supernova remnants over the past two decades.

Proceeding of the 1999 Particle Accelerator Conference. Volume 1

DTIC Science & Technology

1999-04-02

protons -e.6 within a 35-ns wide pulse . Dynamic shots of high - explosive (HE) during detonation usually had pulses spaced at 1-microsecond intervals... protons per pulse could be obtained by 800 Radiography on a Dynamic Object," 1 1th Biennial Nuclear Explosives MeV H’ injection from the existing 800 MeV...3713 Pondermotive Acceleration of Ions By Relativistically Self-Focused High- Intensity Short Pulse Laser -- A.Maksimchuky, S.Gu, K.Flippo,

Accelerator boom hones China's engineering expertise

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Normile, Dennis

2018-02-01

In raising the curtain on the China Spallation Neutron Source, China has joined just four other nations in having mastered the technology of accelerating and controlling beams of protons. The $277 million facility, set to open to users this spring in Dongguan, is expected to yield big dividends in materials science, chemistry, and biology. More world class machines are on the way, as China this year starts construction on four other major accelerator facilities. The building boom is prompting a scramble to find enough engineers and technicians to finish the projects. But if they all come off as planned, the facilities would position China to tackle the next global megaproject: a giant accelerator that would pick up where Europe's Large Hadron Collider leaves off.

Proton induced fission of {sup 232}Th at intermediate energies

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gikal, K. B., E-mail: kgikal@mail.ru; Kozulin, E. M.; Bogachev, A. A.

2016-12-15

The mass-energy distributions and cross sections of proton-induced fission of {sup 232}Th have been measured at the proton energies of 7, 10, 13, 20, 40, and 55 MeV. Experiments were carried out at the proton beam of the K-130 cyclotron of the JYFL Accelerator Laboratory of the University of Jyväskylä and U-150m cyclotron of the Institute of Nuclear Physics, Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The yields of fission fragments in the mass range A = 60–170 a.m.u. have been measured up to the level of 10−4%. The three humped shape of the mass distribution up has beenmore » observed at higher proton energies. The contribution of the symmetric component grows up with increasing proton incident energy; although even at 55 MeV of proton energy the shoulders in the mass energy distribution clearly indicate the asymmetric fission peaks. Evolution of shell structure was observed in the fission fragment mass distributions even at high excitation energy.« less

Hundreds MeV monoenergetic proton bunch from interaction of 10{sup 20-21} W/cm{sup 2} circularly polarized laser pulse with tailored complex target

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhang, Z. M.; Laser Fusion Research Center, CAEP, Mianyang 621900; He, X. T.

A complex target (CT) configuration tailored for generating high quality proton bunch by circularly polarized laser pulses at intensities of 10{sup 20-21} W/cm{sup 2} is proposed. Two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations show that both the collimation and mono-energetic qualities of the accelerated proton bunch obtained using a front-shaped thin foil can be greatly enhanced by the backside inhomogeneous plasma layer. The main mechanisms for improving the accelerated protons are identified and discussed. These include stabilization of the photon cavity, providing hole-boring supplementary acceleration and suppressing the thermal-electron effects. A theory for tailoring the CT parameters is also presented.

Laser-ablation-based ion source characterization and manipulation for laser-driven ion acceleration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sommer, P.; Metzkes-Ng, J.; Brack, F.-E.; Cowan, T. E.; Kraft, S. D.; Obst, L.; Rehwald, M.; Schlenvoigt, H.-P.; Schramm, U.; Zeil, K.

2018-05-01

For laser-driven ion acceleration from thin foils (∼10 μm–100 nm) in the target normal sheath acceleration regime, the hydro-carbon contaminant layer at the target surface generally serves as the ion source and hence determines the accelerated ion species, i.e. mainly protons, carbon and oxygen ions. The specific characteristics of the source layer—thickness and relevant lateral extent—as well as its manipulation have both been investigated since the first experiments on laser-driven ion acceleration using a variety of techniques from direct source imaging to knife-edge or mesh imaging. In this publication, we present an experimental study in which laser ablation in two fluence regimes (low: F ∼ 0.6 J cm‑2, high: F ∼ 4 J cm‑2) was applied to characterize and manipulate the hydro-carbon source layer. The high-fluence ablation in combination with a timed laser pulse for particle acceleration allowed for an estimation of the relevant source layer thickness for proton acceleration. Moreover, from these data and independently from the low-fluence regime, the lateral extent of the ion source layer became accessible.

CEPC-SPPC accelerator status towards CDR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, J.

2017-12-01

In this paper we will give an introduction to the Circular Electron Positron Collider (CEPC). The scientific background, physics goal, the collider design requirements and the conceptual design principle of the CEPC are described. On the CEPC accelerator, the optimization of parameter designs for the CEPC with different energies, machine lengths, single ring and crab-waist collision partial double ring, advanced partial double ring and fully partial double ring options, etc. have been discussed systematically, and compared. The CEPC accelerator baseline and alternative designs have been proposed based on the luminosity potential in relation with the design goals. The CEPC sub-systems, such as the collider main ring, booster, electron positron injector, etc. have also been introduced. The detector and the MAchine-Detector Interface (MDI) design have been briefly mentioned. Finally, the optimization design of the Super Proton-Proton Collider (SppC), its energy and luminosity potentials, in the same tunnel of the CEPC are also discussed. The CEPC-SppC Progress Report (2015-2016) has been published.

INCREASED UNDERSTANDING OF BEAM LOSSES FROM THE SNS LINAC PROTON EXPERIMENT

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Aleksandrov, Alexander V; Shishlo, Andrei P; Plum, Michael A

Beam loss is a major concern for high power hadron accelerators such as the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS). An unexpected beam loss in the SNS superconducting linac (SCL) was observed during the power ramp up and early operation. Intra-beam-stripping (IBS) loss, in which interactions between H- particles within the accelerated bunch strip the outermost electron, was recently identified as a possible cause of the beam loss. A set of experiments using proton beam acceleration in the SNS linac was conducted, which supports IBS as the primary beam loss mechanism in the SNS SCL.

Energy Production Demonstrator for Megawatt Proton Beams

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pronskikh, Vitaly S.; Mokhov, Nikolai V.; Novitski, Igor

2014-07-16

A preliminary study of the Energy Production Demonstrator (EPD) concept - a solid heavy metal target irradiated by GeV-range intense proton beams and producing more energy than consuming - is carried out. Neutron production, fission, energy deposition, energy gain, testing volume and helium production are simulated with the MARS15 code for tungsten, thorium, and natural uranium targets in the proton energy range 0.5 to 120 GeV. This study shows that the proton energy range of 2 to 4 GeV is optimal for both a natU EPD and the tungsten-based testing station that would be the most suitable for proton acceleratormore » facilities. Conservative estimates, not including breeding and fission of plutonium, based on the simulations suggest that the proton beam current of 1 mA will be sufficient to produce 1 GW of thermal output power with the natU EPD while supplying < 8% of that power to operate the accelerator. The thermal analysis shows that the concept considered has a problem due to a possible core meltdown; however, a number of approaches (a beam rastering, in first place) are suggested to mitigate the issue. The efficiency of the considered EPD as a Materials Test Station (MTS) is also evaluated in this study.« less

Probing Flavor Asymmetry of Anti-quarks in the Proton by Drell-Yan Experiment SeaQuest

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Miyasaka, Shou

A new measurement on the avor asymmetry between d and u in the proton is reported in this thesis. The proton contains a substantial number of antiquarks which arise from dynamical interactions of gluons such as gluon dissociation to a quark-antiquark pair, g ! q + q, and from non-perturbative processes as described by the pion-cloud model, for example. The antiquarks in the proton undertake an important role in determining the dynamic characteristics of the internal structure of the proton, although its distribution in the proton and its origin are not fully understood. Understanding sea quarks in hadron is anmore » important subject for QCD. The SeaQuest experiment at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) is a xed target experiment using the 120 GeV proton beam extracted from the Fermilab Main Injector. One of the goals of the experiment is to measure the avor asymmetry between d quark and u quark in the proton as a function of the target Bjorken x using the Drell-Yan process in the p-p or p-d reactions. This process takes place in hadron-hadron collisions when a quark in one hadron in the beam and an antiquark in other hadron in the target annihilate into a virtual photon that decays into a lepton pair. The avor asymmetry between d and u quarks was found by deep-inelastic scattering experiment NMC at CERN. The E866/NuSea experiment at Fermilab obtained the avor asymmetry in the proton for 0:015 < x < 0:35 using the 800 GeV proton beam extracted from the Fermilab Tevatron. The result indicates the dominance of d; it is 70% larger than u at lower x. The SeaQuest experiment was planned to do a new precise measurement at higher x region. The lower energy beam (120 GeV) increases the Drell-Yan cross section and suppresses the background primarily arising from J/ decays. Therefore, SeaQuest will obtain more statistics in a shorter time than the E866 experiment. After detector construction, detector commissioning and accelerator upgrade, physics data taking

Applicability of a Bonner Shere technique for pulsed neutron in 120 GeV proton facility

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sanami, T.; Hagiwara, M.; Iwase, H.

2008-02-01

The data on neutron spectra and intensity behind shielding are important for radiation safety design of high-energy accelerators since neutrons are capable of penetrating thick shielding and activating materials. Corresponding particle transport codes--that involve physics models of neutron and other particle production, transportation, and interaction--have been developed and used world-wide [1-8]. The results of these codes have been ensured through plenty of comparisons with experimental results taken in simple geometries. For neutron generation and transport, several related experiments have been performed to measure neutron spectra, attenuation length and reaction rates behind shielding walls of various thicknesses and materials in energymore » range up to several hundred of MeV [9-11]. The data have been used to benchmark--and modify if needed--the simulation modes and parameters in the codes, as well as the reference data for radiation safety design. To obtain such kind of data above several hundred of MeV, Japan-Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL) collaboration for shielding experiments has been started in 2007, based on suggestion from the specialist meeting of shielding, Shielding Aspects of Target, Irradiation Facilities (SATIF), because of very limited data available in high-energy region (see, for example, [12]). As a part of this shielding experiment, a set of Bonner sphere (BS) was tested at the antiproton production target facility (pbar target station) at FNAL to obtain neutron spectra induced by a 120-GeV proton beam in concrete and iron shielding. Generally, utilization of an active detector around high-energy accelerators requires an improvement on its readout to overcome burst of secondary radiation since the accelerator delivers an intense beam to a target in a short period after relatively long acceleration period. In this paper, we employ BS for a spectrum measurement of neutrons that penetrate the shielding wall of the pbar

Microfabrication of biocompatible hydrogels by proton beam writing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nagasawa, Naotsugu; Kimura, Atsushi; Idesaki, Akira; Yamada, Naoto; Koka, Masashi; Satoh, Takahiro; Ishii, Yasuyuki; Taguchi, Mitsumasa

2017-10-01

Functionalization of biocompatible materials is expected to be widely applied in biomedical engineering and regenerative medicine fields. Hydrogel has been expected as a biocompatible scaffold which support to keep an organ shape during cell multiplying in regenerative medicine. Therefore, it is important to understanding a surface microstructure (minute shape, depth of flute) and a chemical characteristic of the hydrogel affecting the cell culture. Here, we investigate the microfabrication of biocompatible polymeric materials, such as the water-soluble polysaccharide derivatives hydroxypropyl cellulose and carboxymethyl cellulose, by use of proton beam writing (PBW). These polymeric materials were dissolved thoroughly in pure water using a planetary centrifugal mixer, and a sample sheet (1 mm thick) was formed on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film. Crosslinking to form hydrogels was induced using a 3.0 MeV focused proton beam from the single-ended accelerator at Takasaki Ion Accelerators for Advanced Radiation Application. The aqueous samples were horizontally irradiated with the proton beam through the PET cover film, and then rinsed with deionized water. Microstructured hydrogels were obtained on the PET film using the PBW technique without toxic crosslinking reagents. Cell adhesion and proliferation on the microfabricated biocompatible hydrogels were investigated. Microfabrication of HPC and CMC by the use of PBW is expected to produce new biocompatible materials that can be applied in biological and medical applications.

MODELING THE GAMMA-RAY EMISSION IN THE GALACTIC CENTER WITH A FADING COSMIC-RAY ACCELERATOR

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Liu, Ruo-Yu; Wang, Xiang-Yu; Prosekin, Anton

2016-12-20

Recent HESS observations of the ∼200 pc scale diffuse gamma-ray emission from the central molecular zone (CMZ) suggest the presence of a PeV cosmic-ray accelerator (PeVatron) located in the inner 10 pc region of the Galactic center. Interestingly, the gamma-ray spectrum of the point-like source (HESS J1745-290) in the Galactic center shows a cutoff at ∼10 TeV, implying a cutoff around 100 TeV in the cosmic-ray proton spectrum. Here we propose that the gamma-ray emission from the inner and the outer regions may be explained self-consistently by run-away protons from a single yet fading accelerator. In this model, gamma-rays frommore » the CMZ region are produced by protons injected in the past, while gamma-rays from the inner region are produced by protons injected more recently. We suggest that the blast wave formed in a tidal disruption event (TDE) caused by the supermassive black hole (Sgr A*) could serve as such a fading accelerator. With typical parameters of the TDE blast wave, gamma-ray spectra of both the CMZ region and HESS J1745-290 can be reproduced simultaneously. Meanwhile, we find that the cosmic-ray energy density profile in the CMZ region may also be reproduced in the fading accelerator model when appropriate combinations of the particle injection history and the diffusion coefficient of cosmic rays are adopted.« less

The Galactic Center: A Petaelectronvolt Cosmic-ray Acceleration Factory

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Guo, Yi-Qing; Tian, Zhen; Wang, Zhen

2017-02-20

The multiteraelectronvolt γ -rays from the galactic center (GC) have a cutoff at tens of teraelectronvolts, whereas the diffuse emission has no such cutoff, which is regarded as an indication of petaelectronvolt proton acceleration by the HESS experiment. It is important to understand the inconsistency and study the possibility that petaelectronvolt cosmic-ray acceleration could account for the apparently contradictory point and diffuse γ -ray spectra. In this work, we propose that the cosmic rays are accelerated up to greater than petaelectronvolts in the GC. The interaction between cosmic rays and molecular clouds is responsible for the multiteraelectronvolt γ -ray emissionsmore » from both the point and diffuse sources today. Enhanced by the small volume filling factor (VFF) of the clumpy structure, the absorption of the γ -rays leads to a sharp cutoff spectrum at tens of teraelectronvolts produced in the GC. Away from the GC, the VFF grows, and the absorption enhancement becomes negligible. As a result, the spectra of γ -ray emissions for both point and diffuse sources can be successfully reproduced under such a self-consistent picture. In addition, a “surviving tail” at ∼100 TeV is expected from the point source, which can be observed by future projects CTA and LHAASO. Neutrinos are simultaneously produced during proton-proton (PP) collision. With 5–10 years of observations, the KM3Net experiment will be able to detect the petaelectronvolt source according to our calculation.« less

Survival of tumor cells after proton irradiation with ultra-high dose rates

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Laser acceleration of protons and heavy ions may in the future be used in radiation therapy. Laser-driven particle beams are pulsed and ultra high dose rates of >109 Gy s-1may be achieved. Here we compare the radiobiological effects of pulsed and continuous proton beams. Methods The ion microbeam SNAKE at the Munich tandem accelerator was used to directly compare a pulsed and a continuous 20 MeV proton beam, which delivered a dose of 3 Gy to a HeLa cell monolayer within < 1 ns or 100 ms, respectively. Investigated endpoints were G2 phase cell cycle arrest, apoptosis, and colony formation. Results At 10 h after pulsed irradiation, the fraction of G2 cells was significantly lower than after irradiation with the continuous beam, while all other endpoints including colony formation were not significantly different. We determined the relative biological effectiveness (RBE) for pulsed and continuous proton beams relative to x-irradiation as 0.91 ± 0.26 and 0.86 ± 0.33 (mean and SD), respectively. Conclusions At the dose rates investigated here, which are expected to correspond to those in radiation therapy using laser-driven particles, the RBE of the pulsed and the (conventional) continuous irradiation mode do not differ significantly. PMID:22008289

Accelerators for Cancer Therapy

DOE R&D Accomplishments Database

Lennox, Arlene J.

2000-05-30

The vast majority of radiation treatments for cancerous tumors are given using electron linacs that provide both electrons and photons at several energies. Design and construction of these linacs are based on mature technology that is rapidly becoming more and more standardized and sophisticated. The use of hadrons such as neutrons, protons, alphas, or carbon, oxygen and neon ions is relatively new. Accelerators for hadron therapy are far from standardized, but the use of hadron therapy as an alternative to conventional radiation has led to significant improvements and refinements in conventional treatment techniques. This paper presents the rationale for radiation therapy, describes the accelerators used in conventional and hadron therapy, and outlines the issues that must still be resolved in the emerging field of hadron therapy.

A compact proton spectrometer for measurement of the absolute DD proton spectrum from which yield and ρR are determined in thin-shell inertial-confinement-fusion implosions.

PubMed

Rosenberg, M J; Zylstra, A B; Frenje, J A; Rinderknecht, H G; Johnson, M Gatu; Waugh, C J; Séguin, F H; Sio, H; Sinenian, N; Li, C K; Petrasso, R D; Glebov, V Yu; Hohenberger, M; Stoeckl, C; Sangster, T C; Yeamans, C B; LePape, S; Mackinnon, A J; Bionta, R M; Talison, B; Casey, D T; Landen, O L; Moran, M J; Zacharias, R A; Kilkenny, J D; Nikroo, A

2014-10-01

A compact, step range filter proton spectrometer has been developed for the measurement of the absolute DD proton spectrum, from which yield and areal density (ρR) are inferred for deuterium-filled thin-shell inertial confinement fusion implosions. This spectrometer, which is based on tantalum step-range filters, is sensitive to protons in the energy range 1-9 MeV and can be used to measure proton spectra at mean energies of ∼1-3 MeV. It has been developed and implemented using a linear accelerator and applied to experiments at the OMEGA laser facility and the National Ignition Facility (NIF). Modeling of the proton slowing in the filters is necessary to construct the spectrum, and the yield and energy uncertainties are ±<10% in yield and ±120 keV, respectively. This spectrometer can be used for in situ calibration of DD-neutron yield diagnostics at the NIF.

Gamma-ray emission and electron acceleration in solar flares

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Petrosian, Vahe; Mctiernan, James M.; Marschhauser, Holger

1994-01-01

Recent observations have extended the spectra of the impulsive phase of flares to the GeV range. Such high-energy photons can be produced either by electron bremsstrahlung or by decay of pions produced by accelerated protons. In this paper we investigate the effects of processes which become important at high energies. We examine the effects of synchrotron losses during the transport of electrons as they travel from the acceleration region in the corona to the gamma-ray emission sites deep in the chromosphere and photosphere, and the effects of scattering and absorption of gamma rays on their way from the photosphere to space instruments. These results are compared with the spectra from so-called electron-dominated flares, observed by GRS on the Solar Maximum Mission, which show negligible or no detectable contribution from accelerated protons. The spectra of these flares show a distinct steepening at energies below 100 keV and a rapid falloff at energies above 50 MeV. Following our earlier results based on lower energy gamma-ray flare emission we have modeled these spectra. We show that neither the radiative transfer effects, which are expected to become important at higher energies, nor the transport effects (Coulomb collisions, synchrotron losses, or magnetic field convergence) can explain such sharp spectral deviations from a simple power law. These spectral deviations from a power law are therefore attributed to the acceleration process. In a stochastic acceleration model the low-energy steepening can be attributed to Coulomb collision and the rapid high-energy steepening can result from synchrotron losses during the acceleration process.

Photoproduction of $$ \\pi^{0}$$-pairs off protons and off neutrons

DOE PAGES

Dieterle, M.; Oberle, M.; Ahrens, J.; ...

2015-11-04

Total cross sections, angular distributions, and invariant-mass distributions have been measured for the photoproduction of π 0π 0 pairs off free protons and off nucleons bound in the deuteron. The experiments were performed at the MAMI accelerator facility in Mainz using the Glasgow photon tagging spectrometer and the Crystal Ball/TAPS detector. The accelerator delivered electron beams of 1508 and 1557MeV, which produced bremsstrahlung in thin radiator foils. The tagged photon beam covered energies up to 1400MeV. The data from the free proton target are in good agreement with previous measurements and were only used to test the analysis procedures. Themore » results for differential cross sections (angular distributions and invariant-mass distributions) for free and quasi-free protons are almost identical in shape, but differ in absolute magnitude up to 15%. Thus, moderate final-state interaction effects are present. The data for quasi-free neutrons are similar to the proton data in the second resonance region (final-state invariant masses up to ≈1550 MeV), where both reactions are dominated by the N(1520)3/2 –→Δ(1232)3/2 +π decay. At higher energies, angular and invariant-mass distributions are different. A simple analysis of the shapes of the invariant-mass distributions in the third resonance region is consistent with strong contributions of an N*→Nσ decay for the proton, while the reaction is dominated by a sequential decay via a Δπ intermediate state for the neutron. Here, the data are compared to predictions from the Two-Pion-MAID model and the Bonn-Gatchina coupled-channel analysis.« less

Sustained >100 MeV Gamma-Ray Emission: A Monitor for >300 MeV SEP Protons at the Sun

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Share, G. H.; Murphy, R. J.

2017-12-01

Solar γ radiation is the product of proton and ion interactions in the solar atmosphere. The spectrum and temporal characteristics of the emission provides fundamental information on the ions at the Sun. Until the launch of the Fermi satellite, with its Large Area Telescope (LAT) sensitive to radiation above 100 MeV, most of the γ-ray observations were made in the nuclear energy range with radiation arising from interaction of one to tens of MeV ions produced in solar flares. Since 2008 the LAT has detected 30 high-energy γ-ray events with temporal and spectral characteristics that are distinct from the associated solar flare. We call this radiation Sustained Gamma-Ray Emission (SGRE) and briefly summarize its characteristics reported in a recent paper. The γ-ray spectra are consistent with pion decay radiation produced by protons above 300 MeV. The onset of the radiation most often occurs after the impulsive flare and the emission can last several hours. We find that the number of protons responsible for the SGRE is typically more than 10 times the number of flare-accelerated protons. These characteristics require that there be an additional source of energy to accelerate the protons to hundreds of MeV to produce the SGRE. As 28 of the 30 SGRE events are accompanied by fast CMEs, it is likely that these protons are accelerated by the same shock that produces gradual SEPs. We find that the number of protons >500 MeV in the accompanying SEPs is typically about 50-100 times the number of protons that return to the Sun to produce the SGRE. There also appear to be correlations between the numbers of SEP and SGRE protons and durations of >100 MeV SEP proton and SGRE events. We find that for all SGRE events where there were flare observations, the accompanying impulsive X-radiation reached energies >100 keV. In a limited study of 18 solar events with CME speeds >800 km/s we also find that the median SEP proton flux is 25 times higher when flare hard X-rays exceed 100

Japan.

PubMed

1987-02-01

Japan is composed of 4 main islands and more than 3900 smaller islands and has 317.7 persons/square kilometer. This makes it one of the most densely populated nations in the world. Religion is an important force in the life of the Japanese and most consider themselves Buddhists. Schooling is free through junior high but 90% of Japanese students complete high school. In fact, Japan enjoys one of the highest literacy rates in the world. There are over 178 newspapers and 3500 magazines published in Japan and the number of new book titles issued each year is greater than that in the US. Since WW1, Japan expanded its influence in Asia and its holdings in the Pacific. However, as a direct result of WW2, Japan lost all of its overseas possessions and was able to retain only its own islands. Since 1952, Japan has been ruled by conservative governments which cooperate closely with the West. Great economic growth has come since the post-treaty period. Japan as a constitutional monarchy operates within the framework of a constitution which became effective in May 1947. Executive power is vested in a cabinet which includes the prime minister and the ministers of state. Japan is one of the most politically stable of the postwar democracies and the Liberal Democratic Party is representative of Japanese moderate conservatism. The economy of Japan is strong and growing. With few resources, there is only 19% of Japanese land suitable for cultivation. Its exports earn only about 19% of the country's gross national product. More than 59 million workers comprise Japan's labor force, 40% of whom are women. Japan and the US are strongly linked trading partners and after Canada, Japan is the largest trading partner of the US. Foreign policy since 1952 has fostered close cooperation with the West and Japan is vitally interested in good relations with its neighbors. Relations with the Soviet Union are not close although Japan is attempting to improve the situation. US policy is based on

Space experiments with particle accelerators (SEPAC): Description of instrumentation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Taylor, W. W. L.; Roberts, W. T.; Reasoner, D. L.; Chappell, C. R.; Baker, B. B.; Burch, J. L.; Gibson, W. C.; Black, R. K.; Tomlinson, W. M.; Bounds, J. R.

1987-01-01

SEPAC (Space Experiments with Particle Accelerators) flew on Spacelab 1 (SL 1) in November and December 1983. SEPAC is a joint U.S.-Japan investigation of the interaction of electron, plasma, and neutral beams with the ionosphere, atmosphere and magnetosphere. It is scheduled to fly again on Atlas 1 in August 1990. On SL 1, SEPAC used an electron accelerator, a plasma accelerator, and neutral gas source as active elements and an array of diagnostics to investigate the interactions. For Atlas 1, the plasma accelerator will be replaced by a plasma contactor and charge collection devices to improve vehicle charging meutralization. This paper describes the SEPAC instrumentation in detail for the SL 1 and Atlas 1 flights and includes a bibliography of SEPAC papers.

Proposal for an Accelerator R&D User Facility at Fermilab's Advanced Superconducting Test Accelerator (ASTA)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Church, M.; Edwards, H.; Harms, E.

2013-10-01

Fermilab is the nation’s particle physics laboratory, supported by the DOE Office of High Energy Physics (OHEP). Fermilab is a world leader in accelerators, with a demonstrated track-record— spanning four decades—of excellence in accelerator science and technology. We describe the significant opportunity to complete, in a highly leveraged manner, a unique accelerator research facility that supports the broad strategic goals in accelerator science and technology within the OHEP. While the US accelerator-based HEP program is oriented toward the Intensity Frontier, which requires modern superconducting linear accelerators and advanced highintensity storage rings, there are no accelerator test facilities that support themore » accelerator science of the Intensity Frontier. Further, nearly all proposed future accelerators for Discovery Science will rely on superconducting radiofrequency (SRF) acceleration, yet there are no dedicated test facilities to study SRF capabilities for beam acceleration and manipulation in prototypic conditions. Finally, there are a wide range of experiments and research programs beyond particle physics that require the unique beam parameters that will only be available at Fermilab’s Advanced Superconducting Test Accelerator (ASTA). To address these needs we submit this proposal for an Accelerator R&D User Facility at ASTA. The ASTA program is based on the capability provided by an SRF linac (which provides electron beams from 50 MeV to nearly 1 GeV) and a small storage ring (with the ability to store either electrons or protons) to enable a broad range of beam-based experiments to study fundamental limitations to beam intensity and to develop transformative approaches to particle-beam generation, acceleration and manipulation which cannot be done elsewhere. It will also establish a unique resource for R&D towards Energy Frontier facilities and a test-bed for SRF accelerators and high brightness beam applications in support of the

The Observational Consequences of Proton-Generated Waves at Shocks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reames, Donald V.

2000-01-01

In the largest solar energetic particle (SEP) events, acceleration takes place at shock waves driven out from the Sun by fast coronal mass ejections. Protons streaming away from strong shocks generate Alfven waves that trap particles in the acceleration region, limiting outflowing intensities but increasing the efficiency of acceleration to higher energies. Early in the events, with the shock still near the Sun, intensities at 1 AU are bounded and spectra are flattened at low energies. Elements with different charge-to-mass ratios, Q/A, differentially probe the wave spectra near shocks, producing abundance ratios that vary in space and time. An initial rise in He/H, while Fe/O declines, is a typical symptom of the non-Kolmogorov wave spectra in the largest events. Strong wave generation can cause cross-field scattering near the shock and unusually rapid reduction in anisotropies even far from the shock. At the highest energies, shock spectra steepen to form a "knee." For protons, this spectral knee can vary from approx. 10 MeV to approx. 1 GeV depending on shock conditions for wave growth. In one case, the location of the knee scales approximately as Q/A in the energy/nucleon spectra of other species.

Proton therapy - Present and future.

PubMed

Mohan, Radhe; Grosshans, David

2017-01-15

In principle, proton therapy offers a substantial clinical advantage over conventional photon therapy. This is because of the unique depth-dose characteristics of protons, which can be exploited to achieve significant reductions in normal tissue doses proximal and distal to the target volume. These may, in turn, allow escalation of tumor doses and greater sparing of normal tissues, thus potentially improving local control and survival while at the same time reducing toxicity and improving quality of life. Protons, accelerated to therapeutic energies ranging from 70 to 250MeV, typically with a cyclotron or a synchrotron, are transported to the treatment room where they enter the treatment head mounted on a rotating gantry. The initial thin beams of protons are spread laterally and longitudinally and shaped appropriately to deliver treatments. Spreading and shaping can be achieved by electro-mechanical means to treat the patients with "passively-scattered proton therapy" (PSPT) or using magnetic scanning of thin "beamlets" of protons of a sequence of initial energies. The latter technique can be used to treat patients with optimized intensity modulated proton therapy (IMPT), the most powerful proton modality. Despite the high potential of proton therapy, the clinical evidence supporting the broad use of protons is mixed. It is generally acknowledged that proton therapy is safe, effective and recommended for many types of pediatric cancers, ocular melanomas, chordomas and chondrosarcomas. Although promising results have been and continue to be reported for many other types of cancers, they are based on small studies. Considering the high cost of establishing and operating proton therapy centers, questions have been raised about their cost effectiveness. General consensus is that there is a need to conduct randomized trials and/or collect outcomes data in multi-institutional registries to unequivocally demonstrate the advantage of protons. Treatment planning and plan

Japan.

PubMed

1989-02-01

Japan consists of 3900 islands and lies off the east coast of Asia. Even though Japan is one of the most densely populated nations in the world, its growth rate has stabilized at .5%. 94% of all children go to senior high school and almost 90% finish. Responsibility for the sick, aged, and infirmed is changing from the family and private sector to government. Japan was founded in 600 BC and its 1st capital was in Nara (710-1867). The Portuguese, the 1st Westerners to make contact with Japan in 1542, opened trade which lasted until the mid 17th century. US Navy Commodore Matthew Perry forced Japan to reopen in 1854. Following wars with China and Russia in the late 1800s and early 1900s respectively, Japan took part in World Wars I and II. In between these wars Japan invaded Manchuria and China. The US dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Japanese surrendered in September, 1945 ending World War II (WWII). Following, WWII, the Allied Powers guided Japan's establishment as a nonthreatening nation and a democratic parliamentary government (a constitutional monarchy) with a limited defense force. Japan remains one of the most politically stable of all postwar democracies. The Liberal Democratic Party's Noboru Takeshita became prime minister in 1987. Japan has limited natural resources and only 19% of the land is arable. Japanese ingenuity and skill combine to produce one of the highest per hectare crop yields in the world. Japan is a major economic power, and its and the US economies are becoming more interdependent. Its exports, making up only 13% of the gross national product, mainly go to Canada and the US. Many in the US are concerned, however, with the trade deficit with Japan and are seeking ways to make trade more equitable. Japan wishes to maintain good relations with its Asian neighbors and other nations. The US and Japan enjoy a strong, productive relationship.

Conception of a New Recoil Proton Telescope for Real-Time Neutron Spectrometry in Proton-Therapy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Combe, Rodolphe; Arbor, Nicolas; el Bitar, Ziad; Higueret, Stéphane; Husson, Daniel

2018-01-01

Neutrons are the main type of secondary particles emitted in proton-therapy. Because of the risk of secondary cancer and other late occurring effects, the neutron dose should be included in the out-of-field dose calculations. A neutron spectrometer has to be used to take into account the energy dependence of the neutron radiological weighting factor. Due to its high dependence on various parameters of the irradiation (beam, accelerator, patient), the neutron spectrum should be measured independently for each treatment. The current reference method for the measurement of the neutron energy, the Bonner Sphere System, consists of several homogeneous polyethylene spheres with increasing diameters equipped with a proportional counter. It provides a highresolution reconstruction of the neutron spectrum but requires a time-consuming work of signal deconvolution. New neutron spectrometers are being developed, but the main experimental limitation remains the high neutron flux in proton therapy treatment rooms. A new model of a real-time neutron spectrometer, based on a Recoil Proton Telescope technology, has been developed at the IPHC. It enables a real-time high-rate reconstruction of the neutron spectrum from the measurement of the recoil proton trajectory and energy. A new fast-readout microelectronic integrated sensor, called FastPixN, has been developed for this specific purpose. A first prototype, able to detect neutrons between 5 and 20 MeV, has already been validated for metrology with the AMANDE facility at Cadarache. The geometry of the new Recoil Proton Telescope has been optimized via extensive Geant4 Monte Carlo simulations. Uncertainty sources have been carefully studied in order to improve simultaneously efficiency and energy resolution, and solutions have been found to suppress the various expected backgrounds. We are currently upgrading the prototype for secondary neutron detection in proton therapy applications.

First neutron generation in the BINP accelerator based neutron source.

PubMed

Bayanov, B; Burdakov, A; Chudaev, V; Ivanov, A; Konstantinov, S; Kuznetsov, A; Makarov, A; Malyshkin, G; Mekler, K; Sorokin, I; Sulyaev, Yu; Taskaev, S

2009-07-01

Pilot innovative facility for neutron capture therapy was built at Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics, Novosibirsk. This facility is based on a compact vacuum insulation tandem accelerator designed to produce proton current up to 10 mA. Epithermal neutrons are proposed to be generated by 1.915 MeV protons bombarding a lithium target using (7)Li(p,n)(7)Be threshold reaction. The results of the first experiments on neutron generation are reported and discussed.

Japan-Specific Key Regulatory Aspects for Development of New Biopharmaceutical Drug Products.

PubMed

Desai, Kashappa Goud; Obayashi, Hirokazu; Colandene, James D; Nesta, Douglas P

2018-03-28

Japan represents the third largest pharmaceutical market in the world. Developing a new biopharmaceutical drug product for the Japanese market is a top business priority for global pharmaceutical companies while aligning with ethical drivers to treat more patients in need. Understanding Japan-specific key regulatory requirements is essential to achieve successful approvals. Understanding the full context of Japan-specific regulatory requirements/expectations is challenging to global pharmaceutical companies due to differences in language and culture. This article summarizes key Japan-specific regulatory aspects/requirements/expectations applicable to new drug development, approval, and postapproval phases. Formulation excipients should meet Japan compendial requirements with respect to the type of excipient, excipient grade, and excipient concentration. Preclinical safety assessments needed to support clinical phases I, II, and III development are summarized. Japanese regulatory authorities have taken appropriate steps to consider foreign clinical data, thereby enabling accelerated drug development and approval in Japan. Other important topics summarized in this article include: Japan new drug application-specific bracketing strategies for critical and noncritical aspects of the manufacturing process, regulatory requirements related to stability studies, release specifications and testing methods, standard processes involved in pre and postapproval inspections, management of postapproval changes, and Japan regulatory authority's consultation services available to global pharmaceutical companies. Copyright © 2018 American Pharmacists Association®. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A compact proton spectrometer for measurement of the absolute DD proton spectrum from which yield and pR are determined in thin-shell inertial-confinement-fusion implosions

DOE PAGES

Rosenberg, M. J.; Zylstra, A. B.; Frenje, J. A.; ...

2014-10-10

A compact, step range filter proton spectrometer has been developed for the measurement of the absolute DD proton spectrum, from which yield and areal density (ρR) are inferred for deuterium-filled thin-shell inertial confinement fusion implosions. This spectrometer, which is based on tantalum step-range filters, is sensitive to protons in the energy range 1-9 MeV and can be used to measure proton spectra at mean energies of ~1-3 MeV. It has been developed and implemented using a linear accelerator and applied to experiments at the OMEGA laser facility and the National Ignition Facility (NIF). Modeling of the proton slowing in themore » filters is necessary to construct the spectrum, and the yield and energy uncertainties are ±<10% in yield and ±120 keV, respectively. This spectrometer can be used for in situ calibration of DD-neutron yield diagnostics at the NIF« less

A compact proton spectrometer for measurement of the absolute DD proton spectrum from which yield and ρR are determined in thin-shell inertial-confinement-fusion implosions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rosenberg, M. J., E-mail: mrosenbe@mit.edu; Zylstra, A. B.; Frenje, J. A.

2014-10-01

A compact, step range filter proton spectrometer has been developed for the measurement of the absolute DD proton spectrum, from which yield and areal density (ρR) are inferred for deuterium-filled thin-shell inertial confinement fusion implosions. This spectrometer, which is based on tantalum step-range filters, is sensitive to protons in the energy range 1-9 MeV and can be used to measure proton spectra at mean energies of ~1-3 MeV. It has been developed and implemented using a linear accelerator and applied to experiments at the OMEGA laser facility and the National Ignition Facility (NIF). Modeling of the proton slowing in themore » filters is necessary to construct the spectrum, and the yield and energy uncertainties are ±<10% in yield and ±120 keV, respectively. This spectrometer can be used for in situ calibration of DD-neutron yield diagnostics at the NIF.« less

Dosimetric and clinical experience in eye proton treatment at INFN-LNS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cirrone, G. A. P.; Cuttone, G.; Di Rosa, F.; Lojacono, P.; Mongelli, V.; Lo Nigro, S.; Ott, J.; Patti, I. V.; Pittera, S.; Privitera, G.; Raffaele, L.; Reibaldi, A.; Russo, G.; Salamone, V.; Sabini, M. G.; Spatola, C.; Valastro, L. M.

2009-05-01

After six years of activity 155 patients have been treated inside the CATANA (Centro di AdroTerapia ed Applicazioni Nucleari Avanzate) facility. CATANA is the first and unique proton therapy facility in which the 62 MeV proton beams, accelerated by a Superconducting Cyclotron, are used for the radio-therapeutic treatments of choroidal and iris melanomas. Inside CATANA new absolute and relative dosimetric techniques have been developed in order to achieve the best results in terms of treatment precision and dose release accuracy. The follow-up results for 42 patients demonstrated the efficacy of high energy protons in the radiotherapeutic field and encouraged us in our activity in the battle against cancer

A new type of accelerator for charged particle cancer therapy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Edgecock, Rob

2013-04-19

Non-scaling Fixed Field Alternating Gradient accelerators (ns-FFAGs) show great potential for the acceleration of protons and light ions for the treatment of certain cancers. They have unique features as they combine techniques from the existing types of accelerators, cyclotrons and synchrotrons, and hence look to have advantages over both for this application. However, these unique features meant that it was necessary to build one of these accelerators to show that it works and to undertake a detailed conceptual design of a medical machine. Both of these have now been done. This paper will describe the concepts of this type ofmore » accelerator, show results from the proof-of-principle machine (EMMA) and described the medical machine (PAMELA).« less

Precision measurement of the weak charge of the proton.

PubMed

2018-05-01

Large experimental programmes in the fields of nuclear and particle physics search for evidence of physics beyond that explained by current theories. The observation of the Higgs boson completed the set of particles predicted by the standard model, which currently provides the best description of fundamental particles and forces. However, this theory's limitations include a failure to predict fundamental parameters, such as the mass of the Higgs boson, and the inability to account for dark matter and energy, gravity, and the matter-antimatter asymmetry in the Universe, among other phenomena. These limitations have inspired searches for physics beyond the standard model in the post-Higgs era through the direct production of additional particles at high-energy accelerators, which have so far been unsuccessful. Examples include searches for supersymmetric particles, which connect bosons (integer-spin particles) with fermions (half-integer-spin particles), and for leptoquarks, which mix the fundamental quarks with leptons. Alternatively, indirect searches using precise measurements of well predicted standard-model observables allow highly targeted alternative tests for physics beyond the standard model because they can reach mass and energy scales beyond those directly accessible by today's high-energy accelerators. Such an indirect search aims to determine the weak charge of the proton, which defines the strength of the proton's interaction with other particles via the well known neutral electroweak force. Because parity symmetry (invariance under the spatial inversion (x, y, z) → (-x, -y, -z)) is violated only in the weak interaction, it provides a tool with which to isolate the weak interaction and thus to measure the proton's weak charge 1 . Here we report the value 0.0719 ± 0.0045, where the uncertainty is one standard deviation, derived from our measured parity-violating asymmetry in the scattering of polarized electrons on protons, which is -226.5�

Residual Field Correction of Pulsed Bending Magnet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Takano, Junpei; Igarashi, Susumu; Kamikubota, Norihiko; Meigo, Shin-ichiro; Sato, Kenichi; Shirakata, Masashi; Yamada, Shuei

The Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC) has an accelerator chain, Linac, Rapid Cycling Synchrotron (RCS), and Main Ring (MR). The RCS accelerates the proton beam up to 3 GeV every 40 msec. After the beam is extracted from the RCS, it is delivered to a beam transport line, which is 3NBT for the Material and Life Science Experimental Facility (MLF). Some bunches of the proton beam are bended from the 3NBT to another beam transport line, which is 3-50BT for the MR, by using a pulsed bending magnet (PB) [1]. However, the beam orbit in the 3NBT is kicked by the residual magnetic field of the PB. In order to correct the residual magnetic field, additional coils had been wound on the PB poles. As a result of scanning the current pattern of the correction coils, the orbit distortion in the 3NBT has been reduced.

Blister formation at subcritical doses in tungsten irradiated by MeV protons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gavish Segev, I.; Yahel, E.; Silverman, I.; Makov, G.

2017-12-01

The material response of tungsten to irradiation by MeV protons has been studied experimentally, in particular with respect to bubble and blister formation. Tungsten samples were irradiated by 2.2 MeV protons at the Soreq Applied Research Accelerator Facility (SARAF) to doses of the order of 1017 protons/cm2 which are below the reported critical threshold for blister formation derived from keV range irradiation studies. Large, well-developed blisters are observed indicating that for MeV range protons the critical threshold is at least an order of magnitude lower than the lowest value reported previously. The effects of fluence, flux, and corresponding temperature on the distribution and characteristics of the obtained blisters were studied. FIB cross sections of several blisters exposed their depth and structure.

Intra-pulse transition between ion acceleration mechanisms in intense laser-foil interactions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Padda, H.; King, M.; Gray, R. J.

Multiple ion acceleration mechanisms can occur when an ultrathin foil is irradiated with an intense laser pulse, with the dominant mechanism changing over the course of the interaction. Measurement of the spatial-intensity distribution of the beam of energetic protons is used to investigate the transition from radiation pressure acceleration to transparency-driven processes. It is shown numerically that radiation pressure drives an increased expansion of the target ions within the spatial extent of the laser focal spot, which induces a radial deflection of relatively low energy sheath-accelerated protons to form an annular distribution. Through variation of the target foil thickness, themore » opening angle of the ring is shown to be correlated to the point in time transparency occurs during the interaction and is maximized when it occurs at the peak of the laser intensity profile. Corresponding experimental measurements of the ring size variation with target thickness exhibit the same trends and provide insight into the intra-pulse laser-plasma evolution.« less

Proton Mediated Chemistry and Catalysis in a Self-Assembled Supramolecular Host

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pluth, Michael; Bergman, Robert; Raymond, Kenneth

2009-04-10

stabilization of protonated guests was translated into chemical catalysis by taking advantage of the potential for accelerating reactions that take place via positively charged transition states, which could be potentially stabilized by encapsulation. Orthoformates, generally stable in neutral or basic solution, were found to be suitable substrates for catalytic hydrolysis by the assembly. Orthoformates small enough to undergo encapsulation were readily hydrolyzed by the assembly in basic solution, with rate acceleration factors up to 3900 compared with those of the corresponding uncatalyzed reactions. Furthering the analogy to enzymes that obey Michaelis-Menten kinetics, we observed competitive inhibition with the inhibitor NPr{sub 4}{sup +}, thereby confirming that the interior cavity of the assembly was the active site for catalysis. Mechanistic studies revealed that the assembly is required for catalysis and that the rate-limiting step of the reaction involves proton transfer from hydronium to the encapsulated substrate. Encapsulation in the assembly changes the orthoformate hydrolysis from an A-1 mechanism (in which decomposition of the protonated substrate is the rate-limiting step) to an A-S{sub E}2 mechanism (in which proton transfer is the rate-limiting step). The study of hydrolysis in the assembly was next extended to acetals, which were also catalytically hydrolyzed by the assembly in basic solution. Acetal hydrolysis changed from the A-1 mechanism in solution to an A-2 mechanism inside the assembly, where attack of water on the protonated substrate is rate limiting. This work provides rare examples of assembly-catalyzed reactions that proceed with substantial rate accelerations despite the absence of functional groups in the cavity and with mechanisms fully elucidated by quantitative kinetic studies.« less

Decadal-Scale Crustal Deformation Transients in Japan Prior to the March 11, 2011 Tohoku Earthquake

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mavrommatis, A. P.; Segall, P.; Miyazaki, S.; Owen, S. E.; Moore, A. W.

2012-12-01

Excluding postseismic transients and slow-slip events, interseismic deformation is generally believed to accumulate linearly in time. We test this assumption using data from Japan's GPS Earth Observation Network System (GEONET), which provides high-precision time series spanning over 10 years. Here we report regional signals of decadal transients that in some cases appear to be unrelated to any known source of deformation. We analyze GPS position time series processed independently, using the BERNESE and GIPSY-PPP software, provided by the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan (GSI) and a collaborative effort of Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and Dr. Mark Simons (Caltech), respectively. We use time series from 891 GEONET stations, spanning an average of ~14 years prior to the Mw 9.0 March 11, 2011 Tohoku earthquake. We assume a time series model that includes a linear term representing constant velocity, as well as a quadratic term representing constant acceleration. Postseismic transients, where observed, are modeled by A log(1 + t/tc). We also model seasonal terms and antenna offsets, and solve for the best-fitting parameters using standard nonlinear least squares. Uncertainties in model parameters are determined by linear propagation of errors. Noise parameters are inferred from time series that lack obvious transients using maximum-likelihood estimation and assuming a combination of power-law and white noise. Resulting velocity uncertainties are on the order of 1.0 to 1.5 mm/yr. Excluding stations with high misfit to the time series model, our results reveal several spatially coherent patterns of statistically significant (at as much as 5σ) apparent crustal acceleration in various regions of Japan. The signal exhibits similar patterns in both the GSI and JPL solutions and is not coherent across the entire network, which indicates that the pattern is not a reference frame artifact. We interpret most of the accelerations to represent transient deformation

Editorial: Focus on Laser- and Beam-Driven Plasma Accelerators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Joshi, Chan; Malka, Victor

2010-04-01

The ability of short but intense laser pulses to generate high-energy electrons and ions from gaseous and solid targets has been well known since the early days of the laser fusion program. However, during the past decade there has been an explosion of experimental and theoretical activity in this area of laser-matter interaction, driven by the prospect of realizing table-top plasma accelerators for research, medical and industrial uses, and also relatively small and inexpensive plasma accelerators for high-energy physics at the frontier of particle physics. In this focus issue on laser- and beam-driven plasma accelerators, the latest advances in this field are described. Focus on Laser- and Beam-Driven Plasma Accelerators Contents Slow wave plasma structures for direct electron acceleration B D Layer, J P Palastro, A G York, T M Antonsen and H M Milchberg Cold injection for electron wakefield acceleration X Davoine, A Beck, A Lifschitz, V Malka and E Lefebvre Enhanced proton flux in the MeV range by defocused laser irradiation J S Green, D C Carroll, C Brenner, B Dromey, P S Foster, S Kar, Y T Li, K Markey, P McKenna, D Neely, A P L Robinson, M J V Streeter, M Tolley, C-G Wahlström, M H Xu and M Zepf Dose-dependent biological damage of tumour cells by laser-accelerated proton beams S D Kraft, C Richter, K Zeil, M Baumann, E Beyreuther, S Bock, M Bussmann, T E Cowan, Y Dammene, W Enghardt, U Helbig, L Karsch, T Kluge, L Laschinsky, E Lessmann, J Metzkes, D Naumburger, R Sauerbrey, M. Scḧrer, M Sobiella, J Woithe, U Schramm and J Pawelke The optimum plasma density for plasma wakefield excitation in the blowout regime W Lu, W An, M Zhou, C Joshi, C Huang and W B Mori Plasma wakefield acceleration experiments at FACET M J Hogan, T O Raubenheimer, A Seryi, P Muggli, T Katsouleas, C Huang, W Lu, W An, K A Marsh, W B Mori, C E Clayton and C Joshi Electron trapping and acceleration on a downward density ramp: a two-stage approach R M G M Trines, R Bingham, Z Najmudin

Monte-Carlo Geant4 numerical simulation of experiments at 247-MeV proton microscope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kantsyrev, A. V.; Skoblyakov, A. V.; Bogdanov, A. V.; Golubev, A. A.; Shilkin, N. S.; Yuriev, D. S.; Mintsev, V. B.

2018-01-01

A radiographic facility for an investigation of fast dynamic processes with areal density of targets up to 5 g/cm2 is under development on the basis of high-current proton linear accelerator at the Institute for Nuclear Research (Troitsk, Russia). A virtual model of the proton microscope developed in a software toolkit Geant4 is presented in the article. Fullscale Monte-Carlo numerical simulation of static radiographic experiments at energy of a proton beam 247 MeV was performed. The results of simulation of proton radiography experiments with static model of shock-compressed xenon are presented. The results of visualization of copper and polymethyl methacrylate step wedges static targets also described.

An Overview of Electron-Proton and High Energy Telescopes of Solar Orbiter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kulkarni, S. R.; Grunau, J.; Boden, S.; Steinhagen, J.; Martin, C.; Wimmer-Schweingruber, R. F.; Boettcher, S.; Seimetz, L.; Ravanbakhsh, A.; Elftmann, R.; Rodriguez-Pacheco, J.; Prieto, M.; Gomez-Herrero, R.

2013-12-01

The Energetic Particle Detector (EPD) suite for ESA's Solar Orbiter will provide key measurements to address particle acceleration at and near the Sun. The EPD suite consists of five sensors (STEP, SIS, EPT, and HET). The University of Kiel in Germany is also responsible for the design, development, and build of EPT and HET which are presented here. The Electron Proton Telescope (EPT) is designed to cleanly separate and measure electrons in the energy range from 20 - 400 keV and protons from 20 - 7000 keV. The Solar Orbiter EPT electron measurements from 20 - 400 keV will cover the gap with some overlap between suprathermal electrons measured by STEP and high energy electrons measured by HET. The proton measurements from 20 -7000 keV will partially cover the gap between STEP and HET. The Electron and Proton Telescope relies on the magnet/foil-technique. The High-Energy Telescope (HET) on ESA's Solar Orbiter mission, will measure electrons from 300 keV up to about 30 MeV, protons from 10 -100 MeV, and heavy ions from ~20 to 200 MeV/nuc. Thus, HET covers the energy range which is of specific interest for studies of the space environment and will perform the measurements needed to understand the origin of high-energy events at the Sun which occasionally accelerate particles to such high energies that they can penetrate the Earth's atmosphere and be measured at ground level. Here we present the current development status of EPT-HET units and calibration results of demonstration models and present plans for future activities.

A treatment planning study to assess the feasibility of laser-driven proton therapy using a compact gantry design.

PubMed

Hofmann, Kerstin M; Masood, Umar; Pawelke, Joerg; Wilkens, Jan J

2015-09-01

Laser-driven proton acceleration is suggested as a cost- and space-efficient alternative for future radiation therapy centers, although the properties of these beams are fairly different compared to conventionally accelerated proton beams. The laser-driven proton beam is extremely pulsed containing a very high proton number within ultrashort bunches at low bunch repetition rates of few Hz and the energy spectrum of the protons per bunch is very broad. Moreover, these laser accelerated bunches are subject to shot-to-shot fluctuations. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of a compact gantry design for laser-driven proton therapy and to determine limitations to comply with. Based on a published gantry beam line design which can filter parabolic spectra from an exponentially decaying broad initial spectrum, a treatment planning study was performed on real patient data sets. All potential parabolic spectra were fed into a treatment planning system and numerous spot scanning proton plans were calculated. To investigate limitations in the fluence per bunch, the proton number of the initial spectrum and the beam width at patient entrance were varied. A scenario where only integer shots are delivered as well as an intensity modulation from shot to shot was studied. The resulting plans were evaluated depending on their dosimetric quality and in terms of required treatment time. In addition, the influence of random shot-to-shot fluctuations on the plan quality was analyzed. The study showed that clinically relevant dose distributions can be produced with the system under investigation even with integer shots. For small target volumes receiving high doses per fraction, the initial proton number per bunch must remain between 1.4 × 10(8) and 8.3 × 10(9) to achieve acceptable delivery times as well as plan qualities. For larger target volumes and standard doses per fraction, the initial proton number is even more restricted to stay between 1.4 �

A treatment planning study to assess the feasibility of laser-driven proton therapy using a compact gantry design

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hofmann, Kerstin M., E-mail: kerstin.hofmann@lrz.tu-muenchen.de; Wilkens, Jan J.; Masood, Umar

Purpose: Laser-driven proton acceleration is suggested as a cost- and space-efficient alternative for future radiation therapy centers, although the properties of these beams are fairly different compared to conventionally accelerated proton beams. The laser-driven proton beam is extremely pulsed containing a very high proton number within ultrashort bunches at low bunch repetition rates of few Hz and the energy spectrum of the protons per bunch is very broad. Moreover, these laser accelerated bunches are subject to shot-to-shot fluctuations. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of a compact gantry design for laser-driven proton therapy and tomore » determine limitations to comply with. Methods: Based on a published gantry beam line design which can filter parabolic spectra from an exponentially decaying broad initial spectrum, a treatment planning study was performed on real patient data sets. All potential parabolic spectra were fed into a treatment planning system and numerous spot scanning proton plans were calculated. To investigate limitations in the fluence per bunch, the proton number of the initial spectrum and the beam width at patient entrance were varied. A scenario where only integer shots are delivered as well as an intensity modulation from shot to shot was studied. The resulting plans were evaluated depending on their dosimetric quality and in terms of required treatment time. In addition, the influence of random shot-to-shot fluctuations on the plan quality was analyzed. Results: The study showed that clinically relevant dose distributions can be produced with the system under investigation even with integer shots. For small target volumes receiving high doses per fraction, the initial proton number per bunch must remain between 1.4 × 10{sup 8} and 8.3 × 10{sup 9} to achieve acceptable delivery times as well as plan qualities. For larger target volumes and standard doses per fraction, the initial proton number is

Tandem accelerators in Romania: Multi-tools for science, education and technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burducea, I.; GhiÅ£ǎ, D. G.; Sava, T. B.; Straticiuc, M.

2017-06-01

An educated selection of the main beam parameters - particle type, velocity and intensity, can result in a cutting-edge scalpel to remove tumors, sanitize sewage, act as a nuclear forensics detective, date an artefact, clean up air, improve a microprocessor, transmute nuclear waste, detect a counterfeit or even look into the stars. Nowadays more than particle accelerators operate worldwide in medicine, industry and basic research. For example the proton therapy market is expected to attain 1 billion US per year in 2019 with almost 330 proton therapy rooms, while the annual market for the ion implantation industry already reached 1.5 G in revenue [1,2]. A brief history of the Tandem Accelerators Complex at IFIN-HH [3] emphasizing on their applications and the physics behind the scenes, is also presented [4-6].

Acceleration and heating of heavy ions in high speed solar wind streams

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gomberoff, L.; Gratton, F. T.; Gnavi, G.

1995-01-01

Left hand polarized Alfven waves generated in coronal holes propagate in the direction of high speed solar wind streams, accelerating and heating heavy ions. As the solar wind expands, the ratio between the frequency of the Alfven waves and the proton gyrofrequency increases, due to the decrease of the interplanetary magnetic field, and encounter first the local ion gyrofrequency of the species with the largest M(sub l) = m(sub l)/z(sub l)m(sub p) (m(sub l) is the mass of species l, m(sub p) is the proton mass and z(sub l) is the degree of ionization of species l). It is shown that the Alfven waves experience there strong absorption and cannot propagate any further until the ions are accelerated and heated. Once this occurs, the Alfven waves continue to propagate until they meet the gyrofrequency of the next species giving rise to a similar phenomenon. In order to show this contention, we use the linear dispersion relation of ion cyclotron waves in a multicomponent plasma consisting of oxygen ions, alpha particles and protons. We assume that at any distance from the sun, the Alfven waves follow the local dispersion relation of electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves. To illustrate the results, we solve the dispersion relation for oxygen ions and alpha particles drifting relative to the protons. The dispersion relation has three branches. The first branch starts at zero frequency and goes to the Doppler-shifted oxygen ion gyrofrequency. The second branch starts close to the oxygen gyrofrequency, and goes to the Doppler-shifted alpha particle gyrofrequency. The third branch starts close to the alpha particle gyrofrequency, and goes to the proton gyrofrequency. The Alfven waves propagate following the first branch of the dispersion relation. When they reach the Doppler-shifted oxygen ion gyrofrequency, the ions are accelerated and heated to some definite values. When these values are reached, the dispersion relation changes, and it is now the first branch of the

Proton-proton correlations observed in two-proton radioactivity of 94Ag.

PubMed

Mukha, Ivan; Roeckl, Ernst; Batist, Leonid; Blazhev, Andrey; Döring, Joachim; Grawe, Hubert; Grigorenko, Leonid; Huyse, Mark; Janas, Zenon; Kirchner, Reinhard; La Commara, Marco; Mazzocchi, Chiara; Tabor, Sam L; Van Duppen, Piet

2006-01-19

The stability and spontaneous decay of naturally occurring atomic nuclei have been much studied ever since Becquerel discovered natural radioactivity in 1896. In 1960, proton-rich nuclei with an odd or an even atomic number Z were predicted to decay through one- and two-proton radioactivity, respectively. The experimental observation of one-proton radioactivity was first reported in 1982, and two-proton radioactivity has now also been detected by experimentally studying the decay properties of 45Fe (refs 3, 4) and 54Zn (ref. 5). Here we report proton-proton correlations observed during the radioactive decay of a spinning long-lived state of the lightest known isotope of silver, 94Ag, which is known to undergo one-proton decay. We infer from these correlations that the long-lived state must also decay through simultaneous two-proton emission, making 94Ag the first nucleus to exhibit one- as well as two-proton radioactivity. We attribute the two-proton emission behaviour and the unexpectedly large probability for this decay mechanism to a very large deformation of the parent nucleus into a prolate (cigar-like) shape, which facilitates emission of protons either from the same or from opposite ends of the 'cigar'.

Recent damaging earthquakes in Japan, 2003-2008

USGS Publications Warehouse

Kayen, Robert E

2008-01-01

During the last six years, from 2003-2008, Japan has been struck by three significant and damaging earthquakes: The most recent M6.6 Niigata Chuetsu Oki earthquake of July 16, 2007 off the coast of Kashiwazaki City, Japan; The M6.6 Niigata Chuetsu earthquake of October 23, 2004, located in Niigata Prefecture in the central Uonuma Hills; and the M8.0 Tokachi Oki Earthquake of September 26, 2003 effecting southeastern Hokkaido Prefecture. These earthquakes stand out among many in a very active period of seismicity in Japan. Within the upper 100 km of the crust during this period, Japan experienced 472 earthquakes of magnitude 6, or greater. Both Niigata events affected the south-central region of Tohoku Japan, and the Tokachi-Oki earthquake affected a broad region of the continental shelf and slope southeast of the Island of Hokkaido. This report is synthesized from the work of scores of Japanese and US researchers who led and participated in post-earthquake reconnaissance of these earthquakes: their noteworthy and valuable contributions are listed in an extended acknowledgements section at the end of the paper. During the Niigata Chuetsu Oki event of 2007, damage to the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant, structures, infrastructure, and ground were primarily the product of two factors: (1) high intensity motions from this moderate-sized shallow event, and (2) soft, poor performing, or liquefiable soils in the coastal region of southwestern Niigata Prefecture. Structural and geotechnical damage along the slopes of dunes was ubiquitous in the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa region. The 2004 Niigata Chuetsu Earthquake was the most significant to affect Japan since the 1995 Kobe earthquake. Forty people were killed, almost 3,000 were injured, and many hundreds of landslides destroyed entire upland villages. Landslides were of all types; some dammed streams, temporarily creating lakes threatening to overtop their new embankments and cause flash floods and mudslides. The numerous

Development of a tandem-electrostatic-quadrupole accelerator facility for BNCT.

PubMed

Kreiner, A J; Thatar Vento, V; Levinas, P; Bergueiro, J; Di Paolo, H; Burlon, A A; Kesque, J M; Valda, A A; Debray, M E; Somacal, H R; Minsky, D M; Estrada, L; Hazarabedian, A; Johann, F; Suarez Sandin, J C; Castell, W; Davidson, J; Davidson, M; Giboudot, Y; Repetto, M; Obligado, M; Nery, J P; Huck, H; Igarzabal, M; Fernandez Salares, A

2009-07-01

In this work we describe the present status of an ongoing project to develop a tandem-electrostatic-quadrupole (TESQ) accelerator facility for accelerator-based (AB) BNCT at the Atomic Energy Commission of Argentina in Buenos Aires. The project final goal is a machine capable of delivering 30 mA of 2.4 MeV protons to be used in conjunction with a neutron production target based on the (7)Li(p,n)(7)Be reaction slightly beyond its resonance at 2.25 MeV. These are the specifications needed to produce sufficiently intense and clean epithermal neutron beams, based on the (7)Li(p,n)(7)Be reaction, to perform BNCT treatment for deep-seated tumors in less than an hour. An electrostatic machine is the technologically simplest and cheapest solution for optimized AB-BNCT. The machine being designed and constructed is a folded TESQ with a high-voltage terminal at 1.2 MV intended to work in air. Such a machine is conceptually shown to be capable of transporting and accelerating a 30 mA proton beam to 2.4 MeV. The general geometric layout, its associated electrostatic fields, and the acceleration tube are simulated using a 3D finite element procedure. The design and construction of the ESQ modules is discussed and their electrostatic fields are investigated. Beam transport calculations through the accelerator are briefly mentioned. Likewise, work related to neutron production targets, strippers, beam shaping assembly and patient treatment room is briefly described.

Attempt to accelerate asymmetric species with unequal frequencies in RHIC

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Liu, C.; Luo, Y.; Marusic, A.

This report summarizes the beam studies on accelerating asymmetric beams with unequal frequencies, during the proton-Gold/Aluminum run in 2015. The experiment failed due to modulated beam-beam effects even though the beams were separated by at least 15 mm.

Comparison of test particle acceleration in torsional spine and fan reconnection regimes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hosseinpour, M., E-mail: hosseinpour@tabrizu.ac.ir; Mehdizade, M.; Mohammadi, M. A.

2014-10-15

Magnetic reconnection is a common phenomenon taking place in astrophysical and space plasmas, especially in solar flares which are rich sources of highly energetic particles. Torsional spine and fan reconnections are important mechanisms proposed for steady-state three-dimensional null-point reconnection. By using the magnetic and electric fields for these regimes, we numerically investigate the features of test particle acceleration in both regimes with input parameters for the solar corona. By comparison, torsional spine reconnection is found to be more efficient than torsional fan reconnection in an acceleration of a proton to a high kinetic energy. A proton can gain as highmore » as 100 MeV of relativistic kinetic energy within only a few milliseconds. Moreover, in torsional spine reconnection, an accelerated particle can escape either along the spine axis or on the fan plane depending on its injection position. However, in torsional fan reconnection, the particle is only allowed to accelerate along the spine axis. In addition, in both regimes, the particle's trajectory and final kinetic energy depend on the injection position but adopting either spatially uniform or non-uniform localized plasma resistivity does not much influence the features of trajectory.« less

Efficient monoenergetic proton beam from ultra-fast laser interaction with nanostructured targets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fazeli, R.

2018-03-01

The broad energy spectrum of laser-accelerated proton beams is the most important difficulty associated with such particle sources on the way to future applications such as medical therapy, proton imaging, inertial fusion, and high-energy physics. The generation of proton beams with enhanced monoenergetic features through an ultra-intense laser interaction with optimized nanostructured targets is reported. Targets were irradiated by 40 fs laser pulses of intensity 5.5 ×1020 W c m -2 and wavelength 1 μm. The results of multi-parametric Particle-in-Cell calculations showed that proton beams with considerably reduced energy spread can be obtained by using the proposed nanostructured target. At optimized target dimensions, the proton spectrum was found to exhibit a narrow peak at about 63 MeV with a relative energy spread of ΔE /Epeak˜ 5 % which is efficiently lower than what is expected for unstructured double layer targets (˜70%).

A Project of Boron Neutron Capture Therapy System based on a Proton Linac Neutron Source

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kiyanagi, Yoshikai; Asano, Kenji; Arakawa, Akihiro; Fukuchi, Shin; Hiraga, Fujio; Kimura, Kenju; Kobayashi, Hitoshi; Kubota, Michio; Kumada, Hiroaki; Matsumoto, Hiroshi; Matsumoto, Akira; Sakae, Takeji; Saitoh, Kimiaki; Shibata, Tokushi; Yoshioka, Masakazu

At present, the clinical trials of Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) are being performed at research reactor facilities. However, an accelerator based BNCT has a merit that it can be built in a hospital. So, we just launched a development project for the BNCT based on an accelerator in order to establish and to spread the BNCT as an effective therapy in the near future. In the project, a compact proton linac installed in a hospital will be applied as a neutron source, and energy of the proton beam is planned to be less than about 10 MeV to reduce the radioactivity. The BNCT requires epithermal neutron beam with an intensity of around 1x109 (n/cm2/sec) to deliver the therapeutic dose to a deeper region in a body and to complete the irradiation within an hour. From this condition, the current of the proton beam required is estimated to be a few mA on average. Enormous heat deposition in the target is a big issue. We are aiming at total optimization of the accelerator based BNCT from the linac to the irradiation position. Here, the outline of the project is introduced and the moderator design is presented.

Double-polarization observable G in neutral-pion photoproduction off the proton

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thiel, A.; Eberhardt, H.; Lang, M.; Afzal, F.; Anisovich, A. V.; Bantes, B.; Bayadilov, D.; Beck, R.; Bichow, M.; Brinkmann, K.-T.; Böse, S.; Crede, V.; Dieterle, M.; Dutz, H.; Elsner, D.; Ewald, R.; Fornet-Ponse, K.; Friedrich, St.; Frommberger, F.; Funke, Ch.; Goertz, St.; Gottschall, M.; Gridnev, A.; Grüner, M.; Gutz, E.; Hammann, D.; Hammann, Ch.; Hannappel, J.; Hartmann, J.; Hillert, W.; Hoffmeister, Ph.; Honisch, Ch.; Jude, T.; Kaiser, D.; Kalinowsky, H.; Kalischewski, F.; Kammer, S.; Keshelashvili, I.; Klassen, P.; Kleber, V.; Klein, F.; Klempt, E.; Koop, K.; Krusche, B.; Kube, M.; Lopatin, I.; Mahlberg, Ph.; Makonyi, K.; Metag, V.; Meyer, W.; Müller, J.; Müllers, J.; Nanova, M.; Nikonov, V.; Piontek, D.; Reeve, S.; Reicherz, G.; Runkel, S.; Sarantsev, A.; Schmidt, Ch.; Schmieden, H.; Seifen, T.; Sokhoyan, V.; Spieker, K.; Thoma, U.; Urban, M.; van Pee, H.; Walther, D.; Wendel, Ch.; Wilson, A.; Winnebeck, A.; Witthauer, L.

2017-01-01

This paper reports on a measurement of the double-polarization observable G in π^0 photoproduction off the proton using the CBELSA/TAPS experiment at the ELSA accelerator in Bonn. The observable G is determined from reactions of linearly polarized photons with longitudinally polarized protons. The polarized photons are produced by bremsstrahlung off a diamond radiator of well-defined orientation. A frozen spin butanol target provides the polarized protons. The data cover the photon energy range from 617 to 1325 MeV and a wide angular range. The experimental results for G are compared to predictions by the Bonn-Gatchina (BnGa), Jülich-Bonn (JüBo), MAID and SAID partial wave analyses. Implications of the new data for the pion photoproduction multipoles are discussed.

Energy dependence of SEP electron and proton onset times

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xie, H.; Mäkelä, P.; Gopalswamy, N.; St. Cyr, O. C.

2016-07-01

We study the large solar energetic particle (SEP) events that were detected by GOES in the >10 MeV energy channel during December 2006 to March 2014. We derive and compare solar particle release (SPR) times for the 0.25-10.4 MeV electrons and 10-100 MeV protons for the 28 SEP events. In the study, the electron SPR times are derived with the time-shifting analysis (TSA) and the proton SPR times are derived using both the TSA and the velocity dispersion analysis (VDA). Electron anisotropies are computed to evaluate the amount of scattering for the events under study. Our main results include (1) near-relativistic electrons and high-energy protons are released at the same time within 8 min for most (16 of 23) SEP events. (2)There exists a good correlation between electron and proton acceleration, peak intensity, and intensity time profiles. (3) The TSA SPR times for 90.5 MeV and 57.4 MeV protons have maximum errors of 6 min and 10 min compared to the proton VDA release times, respectively, while the maximum error for 15.4 MeV protons can reach to 32 min. (4) For 7 low-intensity events of the 23, large delays occurred for 6.5 MeV electrons and 90.5 MeV protons relative to 0.5 MeV electrons. Whether these delays are due to times needed for the evolving shock to be strengthened or due to particle transport effects remains unsolved.

Proton in SRF Niobium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wallace, John Paul

2011-03-01

Hydrogen is a difficult impurity to physically deal with in superconducting radio frequency (SRF) niobium, therefore, its properties in the metals should be well understood to allow the metal's superconducting properties to be optimized for minimum loss in the construction of resonant accelerator cavities. It is known that hydrogen is a paramagnetic impurity in niobium from NMR studies. This paramagnetism and its effect on superconducting properties are important to understand. To that end analytical induction measurements aimed at isolating the magnetic properties of hydrogen in SRF niobium are introduced along with optical reflection spectroscopy which is also sensitive to the presence of hydrogen. From the variety, magnitude and rapid kinetics found in the optical and magnetic properties of niobium contaminated with hydrogen forced a search for an atomic model. This yielded quantum mechanical description that correctly generates the activation energy for diffusion of the proton and its isotopes not only in niobium but the remaining metals for which data is available. This interpretation provides a frame work for understanding the individual and collective behavior of protons in metals.

Acceleration and heating of two-fluid solar wind by Alfven waves

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sandbaek, Ornulf; Leer, Egil

1994-01-01

Earlier model studies of solar wind driven by thermal pressure and Alfven waves have shown that wave amplitudes of 20-30 km/s at the coronal base are sufficient to accelerate the flow to the high speeds observed in quasi-steady streams emanating from large coronal holes. We focus on the energy balance in the proton gas and show that heat conduction from the region where the waves are dissipated may play an important role in determining the proton temperature at the orbit of Earth. In models with 'classical' heat conduction we find a correlation between high flow speed, high proton temperature, and low electron temperature at 1 AU. The effect of wave heating on the development of anisotropies in the solar wind proton gas pressure is also investigated in this study.

Biophysical characterization of a relativistic proton beam for image-guided radiosurgery

PubMed Central

Yu, Zhan; Vanstalle, Marie; La Tessa, Chiara; Jiang, Guo-Liang; Durante, Marco

2012-01-01

We measured the physical and radiobiological characteristics of 1 GeV protons for possible applications in stereotactic radiosurgery (image-guided plateau-proton radiosurgery). A proton beam was accelerated at 1 GeV at the Brookhaven National Laboratory (Upton, NY) and a target in polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) was used. Clonogenic survival was measured after exposures to 1–10 Gy in three mammalian cell lines. Measurements and simulations demonstrate that the lateral scattering of the beam is very small. The lateral dose profile was measured with or without the 20-cm plastic target, showing no significant differences up to 2 cm from the axis A large number of secondary swift protons are produced in the target and this leads to an increase of approximately 40% in the measured dose on the beam axis at 20 cm depth. The relative biological effectiveness at 10% survival level ranged between 1.0 and 1.2 on the beam axis, and was slightly higher off-axis. The very low lateral scattering of relativistic protons and the possibility of using online proton radiography during the treatment make them attractive for image-guided plateau (non-Bragg peak) stereotactic radiosurgery. PMID:22843629

Acceleration of Polarized Protons up to 3.4 GeV/c in the Nuclotron at JINR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kovalenko, A. D.; Butenko, A. V.; Mikhaylov, V. A.; Kondratenko, M. A.; Kondratenko, A. M.; Filatov, Yu N.

2017-12-01

To preserve proton polarization in the Nuclotron up to 13.5 GeV/c, it is enough to use a partial solenoid snake with maximal field integral of 25 Tm that allows one to eliminate crossings of the most dangerous intrinsic and integer spin resonances. The insertion of weak field integral is sufficient to preserve the proton polarization up to 3.4 GeV/c. This momentum corresponds to the first intrinsic resonance. To preserve polarization during crossings of five integer spin resonances, it is possible to choose crossing rates that correspond to either the fast or the slow resonance crossings. Another possibility is a deliberate increasing of the resonance strength. To eliminate depolarization during protons injection into the Nuclotron, a scheme of matching of the polarization with a vertical direction is presented. During the run in February-March 2017, the three measurements of the proton polarization at kinetic energies of 0.5 GeV, 1 GeV and 2 GeV were made that allow one to obtain the integer spin resonances strengths.

Studies of Ion Acceleration from Thin Solid-Density Targets on High-Intensity Lasers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Willis, Christopher R.

Over the past two decades, a number of experiments have been performed demonstrating the acceleration of ions from the interaction of an intense laser pulse with a thin, solid density target. These ions are accelerated by quasi-static electric fields generated by energetic electrons produced at the front of the target, resulting in ion energies up to tens of MeV. These ions have been widely studied for a variety of potential applications ranging from treatment of cancer to the production of neutrons for advanced radiography techniques. However, realization of these applications will require further optimization of the maximum energy, spectrum, or species of the accelerated ions, which has been a primary focus of research to date. This thesis presents two experiments designed to optimize several characteristics of the accelerated ion beam. The first of these experiments took place on the GHOST laser system at the University of Texas at Austin, and was designed to demonstrate reliable acceleration of deuterium ions, as needed for the most efficient methods of neutron generation from accelerated ions. This experiment leveraged cryogenically cooled targets coated in D2 O ice to suppress the protons which typically dominate the accelerated ions, producing as many as 2 x 1010 deuterium ions per 1 J laser shot, exceeding the proton yield by an average ratio of 5:1. The second major experiment in this work was performed on the Scarlet laser system at The Ohio State University, and studied the accelerated ion energy, yield, and spatial distribution as a function of the target thickness. In principle, the peak energy increases with decreasing target thickness, with the thinnest targets accessing additional acceleration mechanisms which provide favorable scaling with the laser intensity. However, laser prepulse characteristics provide a lower bound for the target thickness, yielding an optimum target thickness for ion acceleration which is dependent on the laser system. This

Proton emission from cone-in-shell fast-ignition experiments at Omega

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sinenian, N.; Theobald, W.; Frenje, J. A.; Stoeckl, C.; Séguin, F. H.; Li, C. K.; Petrasso, R. D.; Stephens, R. B.

2012-11-01

Measurements of energetic protons from cone-in-shell fast-igniton implosions at Omega have been conducted. In these experiments, charged-particle spectrometers were used to measure a significant population (>1013) of energetic protons (7.5 MeV max.), indicating the presence of strong electric fields. These energetic protons, observed in directions both transverse and forward relative to the direction of the short-pulse laser beam, have been used to study aspects of coupling efficiency of the petawatt fast-ignitior beam. Approximately 5% of the laser energy coupled to hot electrons was lost to fast ions. Forward going protons were less energetic and showed no dependence on laser intensity or whether the cone tip was intact when the short-pulse laser was fired. Maximum energies of protons emitted transverse to the cone-in-shell target scale with incident on-target laser intensity (2-6×1018W-cm-2), as described by the ponderomotive scaling (∝I1/2). It is shown that these protons are accelerated from the entire cone, rather than from the cone tip alone. These protons were used to estimate the lower limit on the hot-electron temperature, which was found to be hotter than the ponderomotive scaling by factors of 2-3.

International models of investigator-initiated trials: implications for Japan

PubMed Central

Trimble, E. L.; Ledermann, J.; Law, K.; Miyata, T.; Imamura, C. K.; Nam, B.-H.; Kim, Y.H.; Bang, Y.-J.; Michaels, M.; Ardron, D.; Amano, S.; Ando, Y.; Tominaga, T.; Kurokawa, K.; Takebe, N.

2012-01-01

Background Academic/institutional investigator-initiated clinical trials benefit individuals and society by supplementing gaps in industry-sponsored clinical trials. Materials In May 2010, experts from Japan, the Republic of Korea, the UK, and the United States, met at a symposium in Tokyo, Japan, to discuss how policies related to the conduct of clinical trials, which have been shown to be effective, may be applied to other regions of the world. Results In order to increase the availability of anticancer drugs world-wide, nations including Japan should examine the benefits of increasing the number of investigator-initiated clinical trials. These trials represent one of the most effective ways to translate basic scientific knowledge into clinical practice. These trials should be conducted under GCP guidelines and include Investigational New Drug application submissions with the ultimate goal of future drug approval. Conclusions To maximize the effectiveness of these trials, a policy to educate health care professionals, cancer patients and their families, and the public in general on the benefits of clinical trials should be strengthened. Finally, policies that expedite the clinical development of novel cancer drugs which have already been shown to be effective in other countries are needed in many nations including Japan to accelerate drug approval. PMID:22843420

Simulations of laser-driven ion acceleration from a thin CH target

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Park, Jaehong; Bulanov, Stepan; Ji, Qing; Steinke, Sven; Treffert, Franziska; Vay, Jean-Luc; Schenkel, Thomas; Esarey, Eric; Leemans, Wim; Vincenti, Henri

2017-10-01

2D and 3D computer simulations of laser driven ion acceleration from a thin CH foil using code WARP were performed. As the foil thickness varies from a few nm to μm, the simulations confirm that the acceleration mechanism transitions from the RPA (radiation pressure acceleration) to the TNSA (target normal sheath acceleration). In the TNSA regime, with the CH target thickness of 1 μ m and a pre-plasma ahead of the target, the simulations show the production of the collimated proton beam with the maximum energy of about 10 MeV. This agrees with the experimental results obtained at the BELLA laser facility (I 5 × 18 W / cm2 , λ = 800 nm). Furthermore, the maximum proton energy dependence on different setups of the initialization, i.e., different angles of the laser incidence from the target normal axis, different gradient scales and distributions of the pre-plasma, was explored. This work was supported by LDRD funding from LBNL, provided by the U.S. DOE under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231, and used resources of the NERSC, a DOE office of Science User Facility supported by the U.S. DOE under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231.

Production of Hydrogen by Electrocatalysis: Making the H-H Bond by Combining Protons and Hydrides

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bullock, R. Morris; Appel, Aaron M.; Helm, Monte L.

2014-03-25

Generation of hydrogen by reduction of two protons by two electrons can be catalysed by molecular electrocatalysts. Determination of the thermodynamic driving force for elimination of H2 from molecular complexes is important for the rational design of molecular electrocatalysts, and allows the design of metal complexes of abundant, inexpensive metals rather than precious metals (“Cheap Metals for Noble Tasks”). The rate of H2 evolution can be dramatically accelerated by incorporating pendant amines into diphosphine ligands. These pendant amines in the second coordination sphere function as protons relays, accelerating intramolecular and intermolecular proton transfer reactions. The thermodynamics of hydride transfer frommore » metal hydrides and the acidity of protonated pendant amines (pKa of N-H) contribute to the thermodynamics of elimination of H2; both of the hydricity and acidity can be systematically varied by changing the substituents on the ligands. A series of Ni(II) electrocatalysts with pendant amines have been developed. In addition to the thermochemical considerations, the catalytic rate is strongly influenced by the ability to deliver protons to the correct location of the pendant amine. Protonation of the amine endo to the metal leads to the N-H being positioned appropriately to favor rapid heterocoupling with the M-H. Designing ligands that include proton relays that are properly positioned and thermodynamically tuned is a key principle for molecular electrocatalysts for H2 production as well as for other multi-proton, multi-electron reactions important for energy conversions. The research was supported as part of the Center for Molecular Electrocatalysis, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is operated by Battelle for DOE.« less

Proton Induced X-Ray Emission (PIXE): Determining the Concentration of Samples

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McCarthy, Mallory; Rodriguez Manso, Alis; Pajouhafsar, Yasmin; J Yennello, Sherry

2017-09-01

We used Proton Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE) as an analysis technique to determine the composition of samples, in particular, the elemental constituents and the concentrations. Each of the samples are bombarded with protons, which in result displaces a lower level electron and causes a higher level electron to fall into its place. This displacement produces characteristic x-rays that are `fingerprints' for each element. The protons supplied for the bombardment are produced and accelerated by the K150 proton beam in the Cyclotron Institute at Texas A&M University. The products are detected by three x-ray detectors: XR-100CR Si-PIN, XR-100SDD, and XR-100T CdTe. The peaks of the spectrum are analyzed using a software analysis tool, GUPIXWIN, to determine the concentration of the known elements of each particular sample. The goals of this work are to test run the Proton Induced X-Ray Emission experimental set up at Texas A&M University (TAMU) and to determine the concentration of thin films containing KBr given by the TAMU Chemical Engineering Department.

Effect of protons on the mechanical response of rat muscle nociceptive fibers and neurons in vitro.

PubMed

Hotta, Norio; Kubo, Asako; Mizumura, Kazue

2015-03-01

Strong exercise makes muscle acidic, and painful. The stimulus that activates muscle nociceptors in such instance may be protons. Reportedly, however, not many afferents are excited by protons alone. We, therefore, posited that protons sensitize muscular nociceptors to mechanical stimuli. We examined effects of protons on mechanical sensitivity of muscle nociceptors by single-fiber recording from rat muscle-nerve preparations in vitro and by whole cell patch-clamp recording of mechanically activated (MA) currents from cultured rat dorsal root ganglion neurons. We recorded 38 Aδ- and C-fibers. Their response magnitude was increased by both pH 6.2 and pH 6.8; in addition the mechanical threshold was lowered by pH 6.2. Decrease in the threshold by pH6.2 was also observed in MA currents. Presently observed sensitization by protons could be involved in several types of ischemic muscle pain, and may also be involved in cardiovascular and respiratory controls during exercise. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd and the Japan Neuroscience Society. All rights reserved.

Laser Acceleration of Ions for Radiation Therapy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tajima, Toshiki; Habs, Dietrich; Yan, Xueqing

Ion beam therapy for cancer has proven to be a successful clinical approach, affording as good a cure as surgery and a higher quality of life. However, the ion beam therapy installation is large and expensive, limiting its availability for public benefit. One of the hurdles is to make the accelerator more compact on the basis of conventional technology. Laser acceleration of ions represents a rapidly developing young field. The prevailing acceleration mechanism (known as target normal sheath acceleration, TNSA), however, shows severe limitations in some key elements. We now witness that a new regime of coherent acceleration of ions by laser (CAIL) has been studied to overcome many of these problems and accelerate protons and carbon ions to high energies with higher efficiencies. Emerging scaling laws indicate possible realization of an ion therapy facility with compact, cost-efficient lasers. Furthermore, dense particle bunches may allow the use of much higher collective fields, reducing the size of beam transport and dump systems. Though ultimate realization of a laser-driven medical facility may take many years, the field is developing fast with many conceptual innovations and technical progress.

The Acceleration of Charged Particles at a Spherical Shock Moving through an Irregular Magnetic Field

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Giacalone, J.

We investigate the physics of charged-particle acceleration at spherical shocks moving into a uniform plasma containing a turbulent magnetic field with a uniform mean. This has applications to particle acceleration at astrophysical shocks, most notably, to supernovae blast waves. We numerically integrate the equations of motion of a large number of test protons moving under the influence of electric and magnetic fields determined from a kinematically defined plasma flow associated with a radially propagating blast wave. Distribution functions are determined from the positions and velocities of the protons. The unshocked plasma contains a magnetic field with a uniform mean andmore » an irregular component having a Kolmogorov-like power spectrum. The field inside the blast wave is determined from Maxwell’s equations. The angle between the average magnetic field and unit normal to the shock varies with position along its surface. It is quasi-perpendicular to the unit normal near the sphere’s equator, and quasi-parallel to it near the poles. We find that the highest intensities of particles, accelerated by the shock, are at the poles of the blast wave. The particles “collect” at the poles as they approximately adhere to magnetic field lines that move poleward from their initial encounter with the shock at the equator, as the shock expands. The field lines at the poles have been connected to the shock the longest. We also find that the highest-energy protons are initially accelerated near the equator or near the quasi-perpendicular portion of the shock, where the acceleration is more rapid.« less

A study of GeV proton microprobe lens system designs with normal magnetic quadrupole

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dou, Yanxin; Jamieson, David N.; Liu, Jianli; Li, Liyi

2017-12-01

High energy proton irradiation has many applications to the study of radiation effects in semiconductor devices, biological tissues, proton tomography and space science. Many applications could be extended and enhanced by use of a high energy proton microprobe. However the design of a GeV proton microprobe must address significant challenges including beam collimation that minimizes ion scattering and the probe forming lens system for ions of high rigidity. Here we address the probe forming lens system design subject to several practical constraints including the use of non-superconducting normal magnetic quadrupole lenses, the ability to focus 1-5 GeV protons into 5 μm diameter microprobes and compatibility with the beam parameters of GeV proton accelerators. We show that 2, 3 and 4 lens systems of lenses with effective lengths up to 0.63 m can be employed for this purpose with a demagnification up to 58 and investigate the probe size limitations from beam brightness, lens aberrations and machining precision.

Pion, Kaon, Proton and Antiproton Production in Proton-Proton Collisions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Norbury, John W.; Blattnig, Steve R.

2008-01-01

Inclusive pion, kaon, proton, and antiproton production from proton-proton collisions is studied at a variety of proton energies. Various available parameterizations of Lorentz-invariant differential cross sections as a function of transverse momentum and rapidity are compared with experimental data. The Badhwar and Alper parameterizations are moderately satisfactory for charged pion production. The Badhwar parameterization provides the best fit for charged kaon production. For proton production, the Alper parameterization is best, and for antiproton production the Carey parameterization works best. However, no parameterization is able to fully account for all the data.

Observational test of shock drift and Fermi acceleration on a seed particle population upstream of earth's bow shock

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Anagnostopoulos, G. C.; Sarris, E. T.; Krimigis, S. M.

1988-01-01

The efficiency of proposed shock acceleration mechanisms as they operate at the bow shock in the presence of a seed energetic particle population was examined using data from simultaneous observations of energetic solar-origin protons, carried out by the IMP 7 and 8 spacecraft in the vicinity of the quasi-parallel (dawn) and quasi-perpendicular (dusk) regions of the earth's bow shock, respectively. The results of observations (which include acceleration effects in the intensities of the energetic protons with energies as high as 4 MeV observed at the vicinity of the dusk bow shock, but no evidence for any particle acceleration at the energy equal to or above 50 keV at the dawn side of the bow shock) indicate that the acceleration of a seed particle population occurs only at the quasi-perpendicular bow shock through shock drift acceleration and that the major source of observed upstream ion populations is the leakage of magnetospheric ions of energies not less than 50 keV, rather than in situ acceleration.

Diagnosis and treatment of dyspeptic patients in Japan.

PubMed

Manabe, Noriaki; Haruma, Ken

2011-04-01

Although functional gastrointestinal (GI) disorders has been paid more attention recently in Japan, similar to Western countries, the clinical characteristics of dyspeptic patients, current diagnostic approach to dyspeptic patients and current standard treatments for dyspeptic patients are not well known in Japan. This review, in the most part, summarizes two topics about Japanese dyspeptic patients. The first topic is the pros and cons of the diagnosis of Japanese dyspeptic patients using Rome III classification on the basis of our data and the second topic deals with standard treatments for dyspeptic patients-especially by primary care doctors in Japan. We conducted a PubMed search using the following key words alone or in combination: functional dyspepsia (FD), medical treatment, Rome III classification and Japanese. The Rome III classification for FD does not adequately identify a large proportion of Japanese dyspeptic patients, primarily due to their earlier presentation for medical evaluation. There are many kinds of options for the treatment of FD in Japan: proton-pump inhibitors, histamine H(2) receptor antagonists, mucoprotective agents, Japanese traditional herbal medicines, Helicobacter pylori eradication therapy and prokinetics. Under the current situation, Japanese primary care doctors choose drugs according to each subtype of FD, which means that they prescribe medicine according to the pathogenesis of each patient. While the Rome III classification seems logical, some aspects need further evaluation for Japanese dyspeptic patients. Japanese primary care doctors choose drugs appropriately based on the pathogenesis of FD. However, efforts to further elucidate underlying pathophysiologic mechanisms and identify the appropriate patient population using modified Rome classification will be required. © 2011 Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology Foundation and Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

Crossbar H-mode drift-tube linac design with alternative phase focusing for muon linac

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Otani, M.; Futatsukawa, K.; Hasegawa, K.; Kitamura, R.; Kondo, Y.; Kurennoy, S.

2017-07-01

We have developed a Crossbar H-mode (CH) drift-tube linac (DTL) design with an alternative phase focusing (APF) scheme for a muon linac, in order to measure the anomalous magnetic moment and electric dipole moment (EDM) of muons at the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC). The CH-DTL accelerates muons from β = v/c = 0.08 to 0.28 at an operational frequency of 324 MHz. The design and results are described in this paper.

Design of an upgradeable 45-100 mA RFQ accelerator for FAIR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Chuan; Schempp, Alwin

2009-10-01

A 325 MHz, 35 mA, 3 MeV Radio-Frequency Quadrupole (RFQ) accelerator will be operated as the first accelerating structure of the proton linac injector for the newly planned international science center Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR) at GSI, Germany. In previous design studies, two high beam intensities, 70 and 100 mA, were used. Most recently, the design intensity has been changed to 45 mA, which is closer to the operational value. Taking advantage of the so-called New Four-Section Procedure, a new design, which is upgradable from 45 to 100 mA, has been developed for the FAIR proton RFQ. Besides the upgradability analyses, robustness studies of the new design to spatial displacements of the input beam and field errors are presented as well.

Relationship between SEP Peak intensity and CME Acceleration, Speed and Width

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xie, H.; St Cyr, O. C.; Makela, P. A.; Gopalswamy, N.

2017-12-01

We study the large solar energetic particle (SEP) events that were detected by GOES in the >10 MeV energy channel during December 2006 to January 2016. Data used in this study includes the Solar Electron Proton Telescope (SEPT) and High Energy Telescopes (HET) on STEREO A and B, the Electron, Proton, and Alpha Monitor (EPAM) on ACE, and the Energetic and Relativistic Nuclei and Electron instrument (ERNE) on SOHO. By choosing the smallest connection angles between SEP solar locations and magnetic foot-points of each spacecraft, we divide SEP events as SOHO SEPs or STEREO SEPs. We then compute the SEP peak intensity I0 at the center of the Gausssian using the Gausssian expression from Richardson et al. (2014) and study the relationship between SEP electron and proton peak intensity and CME acceleration, speed and width. By using I0 derived from multi-spacecraft observations we found that the correlations between SEP peak intensity and CME acceleration and speed improved. We also found that this correlation can be further improved by taking into account the effects of CME width and its solar source latitude. The implication for the SEP forecast of our obtained results will be discussed.

Rare Kaon Decays, KEK experiment E391 and E14 at the Japan Physics and Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wah, Yau Wai

2012-12-06

The goal of the J-PARC neutral kaon experiment (E14/KOTO) is to discover and measure the rate of the kaon rare decay to pi-zero and two neutrinos. This flavor changing neutral current decay proceeds through second-order weak interactions. Other, as yet undiscovered particles, which can mediate the decay could provide an enhancement (or depletion) to the branching ratio which in the Standard Model is accurately predicted within a few percent to be 2.8x10-11. The experiment is designed to observe more than 100 events at the Standard Model branching. It is a follow-up of the KEK E391a experiment and has stage-2 approvalmore » by J-PARC PAC in 2007. E14/KOTO has collaborators from Japan (Kyoto, Osaka, Yamagata, Saga), US (Arizona State, Chicago, Michigan Ann Arbor), Taiwan (National Taiwan), Korea, and Russia (Dubna). The experiment exploits the 300kW 30-50 GeV proton delivery of the J-PARC accelerator with a hermetic high acceptance detector with a fine grained Cesium Iodide (CsI) crystal calorimeter, and state of the art electronic front end and data acquisition system. With the recovery of the tsunami disaster on March 11th 2011, E14 is scheduled to start collecting data in December 2012. During the detector construction phase, Chicago focuses on the front end electronics readout of the entire detector system, particularly the CsI calorimeter. The CsI crystals together with its photomultipliers were previously used at the Fermilab KTeV experiment (E832/E799), and were loaned to E14 via this Chicago DOE support. The new readout electronics includes an innovative 10-pole pulse-shaping technique coupled with high speed digitization (14-bit 125MHz and 12-bit 500MHz). This new instrument enables us to measure both energy and timing, particularly with timing resolution better than 100 psec. Besides the cost saving by elimination of the standard time to digital converters, it is now possible to measure the momenta of the final state photons for additional background

Development of Low $$\\beta $$ Single-Spoke Resonators for the Front End of the Proton Improvement Plan-II at Fermilab