SBIR-STTR Award

Heavy-ion fusion requires a high current and high brightness beam, but its specifications cannot be met with the highest intensity ion sources available. Current amplification, through longitudinal compression of the beam, will be needed to achieve these specifications, and ion beam drift compression has been identified as the preferred method. However, this concept has not been demonstrated experimentally. This project will combine a novel induction acceleration buncher with a transport channel, in order to develop and experimentally demonstrate ion beam drift compression on a major heavy ion fusion experiment at a leading national laboratory. Phase I will: (1) develop a preliminary design for the buncher system, including an induction cell, beam focusing elements, and an all-solid-state pulse modulator; and (2) develop a preliminary design for a drift compression transport channel.

Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee:
In addition to the benefits to the heavy ion fusion program, this project should have substantial commercial pay-offs in areas including: (1) induction accelerators for radiation processing and induction synchrotrons for semiconductor research; (2) pulsed lasers; (3) low energy accelerators for ion surface modification and semiconductor ion implantation; (4) pulsed neutron generator systems for radiography, activation analysis, medical isotope production, and homeland security; and (5) modulator drivers for radar and high-energy accelerators

The heavy ion beams produced by modest energy accelerators can be a useful tool for creating strongly coupled plasmas in the warm dense matter regime of high energy density physics. These beams must be compressed both longitudinally and radially to near their emittance limit, in order to achieve the energy density required to drive a sample to the desired plasma state. However, the voltage errors in the acceleration waveforms, which are typical for these types of accelerators, introduce large perturbations to the longitudinal ion energy distribution. This project will overcome this limitation by developing a novel induction accelerator-based energy corrector, which will apply a time-dependent correction to the beam to remove the errors in the longitudinal ion energy distribution. Phase I determined the energy corrector requirements (voltage, accuracy, and bandwidth); designed an induction acceleration module to apply the energy correction to the ion beam; and designed agile-waveform, high-voltage modulators to power the induction acceleration module. In Phase II, prototype versions of the induction acceleration module and modulator will be constructed and tested, and a complete energy correction system will be constructed and tested. The system will then be transported to the national laboratory and installed on the ion beam compression experiment, in order to demonstrate the energy regulation of the ion beam.

Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee:
In addition to the benefits to the heavy ion fusion program, the new class of agile-waveform, high-voltage modulators should find use in numerous applications including low and high energy particle accelerators, pulsed laser systems, RF and microwave generators, and lithographic sources.