Characterization of monoenergetic neutron reference fields with a high resolution diamond detector

A novel radiation detector based on an artificial single crystal diamond was used to characterize in detail the energy distribution of neutron reference fields at the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) and their contamination with charged particles. The monoenergetic reference fields at PTB in the neutron energy range from 1.5 MeV up to 19 MeV are generated by proton and deuteron beams impinging on solid and gas targets of tritium and deuterium. The energy of the incoming particles and the variation of the angle under which the measurement is performed produce monoenergetic reference fields with different mean energies and line shapes. Well established simulation codes allow these parameters to be calculated in detail, provided the properties of the targets are known.In this paper we present high resolution neutron spectrometry measurements of different monoenergetic reference fields. The results are compared with calculated spectra taking into account the actual target parameters. The influence of deviations from the ideal case, e.g. a non homogeneous tritium distribution in a solid Ti/T-target, was investigated. Line structures in the order of 80 keV for a neutron energy of 9 MeV were resolved. The shift of the mean energy and the increasing of the width of the neutron peak with increasing pressure in the gas target in the order of 30 keV were measured.Another result is the determination of the contamination of the neutron field at 14 MeV with high energy charged particles (protons) from side reactions inside the T-target. This effect is due to the thin backing of the targets in use at PTB. It depends on the age of the target and it has to be taken into consideration for irradiations at small distances for some detectors, especially when very old targets are used.The experiments have shown that this detector is an easy to operate compact neutron spectrometer with extremely good energy resolution and that detailed structures in the line shapes of monoenergetic neutron fields can be resolved without using time-of-flight techniques.     

Formation of plasma dust structures at atmospheric pressure

The formation of strongly coupled stable dust structures in the plasma produced by an electron beam at atmospheric pressure was detected experimentally. Analytical expressions were derived for the ionization rate of a gas by an electron beam in an axially symmetric geometry by comparing experimental data with Monte Carlo calculations. Self-consistent one-dimensional simulations of the beam plasma were performed in the diffusion drift approximation of charged plasma particle transport with electron diffusion to determine the dust particle levitation conditions. Since almost all of the applied voltage drops on the cathode layer in the Thomson glow regime of a non-self-sustained gas discharge, a distribution of the electric field that grows toward the cathode is produced in it; this field together with the gravity produces a potential well in which the dust particles levitate to form a stable disk-shaped structure. The nonideality parameters of the dust component in the formation region of a highly ordered quasi-crystalline structure calculated using computational data for the dust particle charging problem were found to be higher than the critical value after exceeding which an ensemble of particles with a Yukawa interaction should pass to the crystalline state.     

Low-energy nuclear reactions in crystal structures

Results of studying low-energy nuclear reactions at the HELIS facility (LPI) are presented. Investigations of yields from DD reactions in deuterated crystal structures at deuteron energies of 10 to 25 keV show a considerable enhancement effect. It is shown that exposure of the deuterated targets to the Н⁺ (proton) and Ne⁺ beams with energies from 10 to 25 keV and an X-ray beam with the energy of 20 to 30 keV stimulates DD reaction yields. For the CVD diamond target, it is shown that its orientation with respect to the deuteron beam affects the neutron yield. The D⁺ beam is shown to cause much higher heat release in the TiD_x target than the Н⁺ and Ne⁺ beams, and this heat release depends on the deuterium concentration in the target and the current density of the deuteron beam.     

快粒子在聚变等离子体中的慢化及能量增益研究

本文将快电子在介质中慢化的Landau理论应用于快带电粒子在聚变等离子体中慢化过程的研究。研究表明,在一定的条件下本文的结果与Fokker-Planck方程的解有明显的区别。原因是粒子间大能量交换的碰撞事件对慢化过程仍起相当的作用。作为本文理论的一个具体应用,计算了氘氚束在聚变等离子体的能量增益,说明提高粒子约束时间对改善能量增益的意义。 关键词：     

Bipolar charging of dust particles under ultraviolet radiation

The photoemission charging of dust particles under ultraviolet radiation from a xenon lamp has been investigated. The velocities of yttrium dust particles with a work function of 3.3 eV and their charges have been determined experimentally; the latter are about 400–500 and about 100 elementary charges per micron of radius for the positively and negatively charged fractions, respectively. The dust particle charging and the dust cloud evolution in a photoemission cell after exposure to an ultraviolet radiation source under the applied voltage have been simulated numerically. The photoemission charging of dust particles has been calculated on the basis of nonlocal and local charging models. Only unipolar particle charging is shown to take place in a system of polydisperse dust particles with the same photoemission efficiency. It has been established that bipolar charging is possible in the case of monodisperse particles with different quantum efficiencies. Polydispersity in this case facilitates the appearance of oppositely charged particles in a photoemission plasma.     

月表尘埃颗粒带电的机理及应用研究

研究月尘颗粒在电子束环境下以及紫外源辐照下的带电机理,利用数值方法模拟月尘颗粒在不同背景环境下的充电过程,以探索月表尘埃颗粒的带电机理,进而便于地面月尘环境模拟装置选择合适的月尘带电方式进行空间模拟实验.给出了尘埃在电子束环境下的充电方程,并将紫外辐射带电与具体应用相结合.通过模拟结果可知,在电子束环境下,月尘表面的电荷数随粒径尺寸增大,随电子枪辐照束斑半径减少,随电子枪流强的增加而增多;在紫外源的辐照下,月尘表面电荷数随颗粒尺寸的增大以及紫外线辐照度的增加而增多.由月尘颗粒受太阳紫外辐照带电的数值模拟结果可知,月尘需要在太阳长时间的辐照下才可以带上可观的电荷数,地面模拟该过程需增加辐照源来加速实验.通过模拟结果的分析比较并结合"空间环境模拟装置"中对月尘舱的设计要求,最终优选紫外源辐照带电方式作为月尘颗粒的带电方案.     

The influence of ion bombardment on emission properties of small dust grains

Dust grains that are present in many plasma and vacuum systems and in the space usually carry a non-negligible charge. Their charging significantly depends on surface properties of the grain material. In cold plasma, charging is mainly given by electron attachment, nevertheless, when plasma becomes hot, other processes (secondary electron emission, field emission, etc.) take place. Emission properties of the grain surface could be modified by grain baking or by ion bombardment. Our study is carried out at the dust charging experiment dealing with a single dust grain electro-dynamically levitated in a 3D quadrupole trap. The grain can be exposed to the ion beam in the energy range of 100 eV–5 keV and to the electron beam in the energy range of 100 eV–10 keV. We have chosen He⁺ and Ar⁺ ions for the surface treatment and the observed influence on the surface properties is discussed in terms of secondary emission. A non-negligible shift of the secondary electron emission yield, as well as a change of energy distribution of secondary electrons, were measured after Ar⁺ bombardment. A preliminary study suggests that the effects of He⁺ and Ar⁺ are comparable.     

Pseudospark produced pulsed electron beam for material processing

An intense pulsed electron beam produced by a pseudospark discharge is used for material processing. The electron beam propagates in a self-focused manner in the background gas. Hardly 12 ns after the beginning of the discharge the fraction of space charge neutralization is about 96%. To sustain the neutralization effect high energy electrons (E <500 keV) are accelerated in radial direction at the beam head, due to strong electric field gradients. At current maximum the beam pinches due to its own magnetic field. At peak current of 400 A and charging voltage up to 16 kV power density reaches 10⁹ W/cm ² on the target surface. Some results of copper thin films are presented. Due to the high expansion velocity of 10⁴ m/s of the ablated target material a copper-matrix has been masked     

两种带电尘埃颗粒的等离子体鞘层玻姆判据

采用流体方程和尘埃充电自洽模型研究了鞘边含有两种尘埃颗粒的等离子体玻姆判据. 通过拟牛顿法数值模拟了鞘边两种尘埃颗粒的存在对尘埃自身充电以及离子马赫数的影响. 两种尘埃颗粒中含量较少的尘埃颗粒数密度的增加, 导致两种尘埃颗粒表面悬浮势一个降低, 一个升高. 含量较少的尘埃颗粒的数密度越多和半径越小, 都会导致离子马赫数增大. 另外鞘边无论何种尘埃颗粒的速度增加, 鞘边离子马赫数都将减小. 关键词： 等离子体鞘层 尘埃颗粒 玻姆判据     

Efficient High-Power High-Energy Neutral Beams for the Reference Mirror Reactor

The neutral beams for the reference mirror reactor are provided via four separate injectors using negative ions created by charge exchange in a cesium-vapor cell and neutralized by photodetachment. Each of the injectors delivers the equivalent of 1800 A of the desired mixture of 150-keV deuterium and tritium neutrals. Each injector consists of 23 ion sources of a modified Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory/Lawrence Livermore Laboratory type, with an associated cesium-vapor cell that converts 20 percent of the positive-ion output into negative ions D- and T-. The negative ions are accelerated to the desired energy and subsequently pass through a photodetachment cell that is continuously illuminated by eight columns of iteratively pulsed lasers. As much as 95 percent of the negative ions are stripped, producing fast neutrals that pass between the cryopumps and shielding into the reactor. Innovations required to attain an overall efficiency of 81.2 percent include a continuously operating cathode for the ion source, a negative-ion beam line with cooled gids, a high-voltage accelerator with insulators shielded from the neutron and gamma flux, cryopanels that cycle between pumping and outgassing modes, and recovery of the waste thermal energy and charged beam energy.     

Dust charging and levitating in a sheath of plasma containing energetic particles

The structure of the sheath in the presence of energetic particles is investigated in the multi-fluid framework. Based on the orbital motion limited(OML) theory, the dust grain charging inside the sheath of plasma containing energetic particles is examined for the carbon wall, and then the effect of the energetic particles on the stationary dust particle inside the sheath is discussed through the trapping potential energy. It is found that with the increase of energetic ion concentration or energy,the size of dust staying in levitation equilibrium decreases and the levitating position is much closer to the wall. In the case of deuterium ions as energetic ions, the bigger dust particle can be trapped by the sheath than in the case of hydrogen ions as energetic ions. When the energetic electron component is present, the levitating position of dust particle in the sheath depends strongly on the energetic electron. The levitating dust particle is closer to the wall as the energetic electron energy or concentration is increased. In addition, with the increase of temperature of thermal background ion, the size of dust particle trapped by the sheath decreases and the levitating positions of dust particles with the same size radius inside the sheath move toward the wall. Our results can be helpful in investigating the property of the sheath where the energetic particle component is present.     

Neutron-, ion-, and electron-energy spectra in a 1 kJ plasma focus

The neutron energy spectrum (4 Torr deuterium) was determined from 30 m flight histograms.—An average energy of approximately 100±20 keV of the neutron producing deuterons within an assumed cone angle of approximately 40 degrees along thez-axis was calculated by means of the target beam model.—Shadow bar techniques reveal that only 10% of the neutrons are produced in the ≈1 cm long focus.—Experimental time of flight analysis confirms that the ion spectrum extends from less than 70 to greater than 400 keV. The electron spectrum in 8 Torr hydrogen follows a ≈3 keV Boltzmann distribution, but demonstrates the presence of nonthermal >100 keV electrons.     

Collective Phenomena in Strongly Coupled Dissipative Systems of Charged Dust: from Ground to Microgravity Experiments

In present work the formation of dusty plasma structures in cryogenic glow dc discharge was investigated. The ordered structures from large number (～10⁴) of charged diamagnetic dust particles in a cusp magnetic trap have been also studied in microgravity conditions. The super high charging (up to 5·10⁷e) of dust macroparticles under direct stimulation by an electron beam is experimentally performed and investigated. The results of the investigation of Brownian motion for strongly coupled dust particles in plasma are presented. (© 2013 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Production of hot plasmas by hypervelocity impact

Very hot plasmas can be obtained by mutual collision of projectiles accelerated to high velocities up to 400 km/s. The electromagnetic drive of lithium or iron circular wires is considered by using either high frequency or constant magnetic fields. When deuterium and tritium are present, fusion reactions are expected. Considering iron, fusion could start from a temperature of 1.4/spl times/10/sup 6/ because energy has been released by the recombination of multiple charged ions.     

Dusty photoresonant plasma with coulomb collisions

We have studied the charging of dust particles in a dense photoresonant sodium plasma with electron and ion densities as high as 10¹⁶ cm^?3 produced by laser pumping of the resonance level of Na, which was a small admixture (up to 1%) in an argon buffer gas. We show that the charge of dust particles with a radius of 10 mm at maximum reaches 3 × 10⁵ electron charges and that the potential of the dust particles at a low electron bulk loss rate agrees well with the orbital motion limited (OML) model data. The behavior of the electric field near a dust particle was found to be nonmonotonic. We established that the distribution of the potential near a solitary charged dust particle agrees well with the Debye one, but the screening length proves to be much larger than even the electron Debye length; the discrepancies are largest at the afterglow stage of the photoresonant plasma, when the sodium ion with a low recombination coefficient is the main plasma ion. We determined the domain of parameters for a dense plasma where an ensemble of dust particles can crystallize.     

Experimental set-up for irradiation of solid H2 and D2 with charged particles of keV energies

An experimental facility was built where films of solid deuterium (and hydrogen) may be made with known thickness and irradiated with pulsed beams of electrons (up to 3 keV) and light ions (up to 10 keV). Films are made on a target plate held at 2.5–3 K. Film growth rate is calibrated with a quartz crystal film thickness monitor. The target plate, which can be heated so that films are removable by evaporation, may be used both as a calorimeter and as a beam current collector. Methods for measurement of secondary electron emission coefficients were developed, and preliminary measurements were made with electrons and hydrogen ions. For electron bombardment, the secondary electron emission coefficient of solid deuterium was much smaller than one. It was shown possible to use the set-up to study beam desorption of very thin films. Furthermore the set-up could be used for measuring the energy-reflection coefficient γ (i.e. the fraction of beam energy reflected from the target) for protons impinging on a heavy target material by using the target as a calorimeter.     

D+离子束轰击时间对氘钛靶特性的影响

利用ZF-300keV中子发生器,采用伴随粒子法研究了氘钛靶的中子产额随D⁺离子束轰击时间的变化特性;利用慢正电子湮没技术和扫描电镜分别研究了D⁺离子束轰击前后靶辐射损伤特性和表面形貌特征.结果表明,束流轰击引起氘钛靶缺陷结构和表面形貌的改变 ,但轰击时间的不同并未引起氘钛靶的中子产额、缺陷结构和表面形貌有明显差异;数值模拟了D⁺离子束在氘钛靶的辐射损伤特性和能量损失规律并与实验结果进行了比照分析和讨论. 关键词： 中子发生器 氘钛靶 伴随粒子法 慢正电子湮没技术     

Kinetic description of the Coulomb explosion of a spherically symmetric cluster

The particle distribution function is calculated for the Coulomb explosion of a spherically symmetric charged cluster formed through the interaction of intense ultrashort laser pulses with a cluster gas. The particle density and mean velocity distributions as well as the energy spectra of the accelerated particles are obtained. These characteristics are analyzed in detail for a cold cluster plasma, where the kinetic effects determine the physics of multiple flows emerging after the turnover of the cluster particle velocity profile. We find the boundaries of the multiple-flow regions and study the characteristics of an exploding cluster as a function of its initial density profile. The energy spectra of the accelerated ions are obtained for a cluster plasma with a specified cluster size distribution.     

Specifications of dust-ion-acoustic shock waves affected by dust charge variation in four-component dissipative quantum plasma

ABSTRACT

Nonlinear propagation of dust-ion-acoustic shock waves in an unmagnetized, collisionless four-component quantum plasma containing electrons, positrons, ions and negatively charged dust grains affected by dust charge variations and viscosity of ions is studied using quantum hydrodynamic model. Considering dust charge variation give rise to calculating of charging currents of the plasma particles. These currents have been calculated with orbit limited motion theory and using Fermi-distribution functions or Boltzmann–Maxwell distribution depending on quantum or classical particles, respectively. The basic characteristics of quantum dust-ion-acoustic shock waves are investigated by deriving Korteweg–de Vries–Burgers equation under the reductive perturbation method. Depending on the relative values of the dispersive and dissipative coefficients, oscillatory and monotonic shock waves can propagate in the plasma model. The effect of chemical potential and density of dust particles on the shock wave’s height and thickness is investigated. In addition, the critical value of H (H_c) is calculated and it is shown that for R?>?0 compressive shock waves and for R?<?0 rarefactive ones can exist. The present study is applicable to researchers on quantum nonlinear structures in dense astrophysical objects and ultra-small micro- and nano-electronic devices.     

Using an auto-oscillating beam-plasma discharge to implant ions into dust particles

The feasibility of implanting ions into dust particles by means of high-voltage charging under conditions of a beam-plasma discharge (BPD) is discussed. It is proposed that additional pulsed charging in the BPD auto-oscillating mode, and magnetic and temporal compression of the high-energy electron beam, be used to increase the potential of dust particle surfaces.