Coherent photon-photon interactions in very peripheral relativistic heavy ion collisions

Heavy ions at high velocities provide very strong electromagnetic fields for a very short time. The main characteristics of ultraperipheral relativistic heavy ion collisions are reviewed, characteristic parameters are identified. The main interest in ultraperipheral heavy ion collisions at relativistic ion colliders like the LHC is the interactions of very high energy (equivalent) photons with the countermoving (equivalent) photons and hadrons (protons/ions). The physics of these interactions is quite different from and complementary to the physics of the strong fields achieved with current and future lasers.     

A reliable noble gas duoplasmatron for the 10 mA range

Duoplasmatrons have been employed at GSI as accelerator sources of multiply charged heavy ions, but extensive experience was collected also with singly charged noble gas ions. Other ion species can be produced from volatile compounds. provided that the cathode is protected from aggressive vapours by an additional noble gas. In a second source modification. the sputter duoplasmatron, ions are directly obtained from solid material.

Recently the GSI-duoplasmatron has been equipped with plasma expansion cups in order to raise the ion current output. Generally, at least a factor of three is gained in beam intensity and other aspects of source performance are improved, too.

A new cathode design considerably enhances life-time and reliability, permitting uninterrupted operation for a few hundred hours. Tables of measured ion beam currents are given.     

Effects of ion motion in intense beam-driven plasma wakefield accelerators

Recent proposals for using plasma wakefield accelerators (PWFA) as a component of a linear collider have included intense electron beams with densities many times in excess of the plasma density. The beam's electric fields expel the plasma electrons from the beam path to many beam radii in this regime. We analyze here the motion of plasma ions under the beam fields, and find for a proposed PWFA collider scenario that the ions completely collapse inside of the beam. Simulations of ion collapse are presented. Implications of ion motion on the feasibility of the PWFA-based colliders are discussed.     

Beam dynamics in an ultra-low energy storage rings (review of existing facilities and feasibility studies for future experiments)

Storage rings operating at ultra-low energies and in particular electrostatic storage rings have proven to be invaluable tools for atomic and molecular physics. Due to the mass independence of the electrostatic rigidity, these machines are able to store a wide range of different particles, from light ions to heavy singly charged bio-molecules. However, earlier measurements showed strong limitations on beam intensity, fast decay of ion current, reduced life time etc. The nature of these effects was not fully understood. Also a large variety of experiments in future generation ultra-low energy storage and decelerator facilities including in-ring collision studies with a reaction microscope require a comprehensive investigation of the physical processes involved into the operation of such rings. In this paper, we present review of non-linear and long term beam dynamics studies on example of the ELISA, AD Recycler, TSR and USR rings using the computer codes BETACOOL, OPERA-3D and MAD-X. The results from simulations were benchmarked against experimental data of beam losses in the ELISA storage ring. We showed that decay of beam intensity in ultra-low energy rings is mainly caused by ion losses on ring aperture due to multiple scattering on residual gas. Beam is lost on ring aperture due to small ring acceptance. Rate of beam losses increases at high intensities because of the intra-beam scattering effect adds to vacuum losses. Detailed investigations into the ion kinetics under consideration of the effects from electron cooling and multiple scattering of the beam on a supersonic gas jet target have been carried out as well. The life time, equilibrium momentum spread and equilibrium lateral spread during collisions with this internal gas jet target were estimated. In addition, the results from experiments at the TSR ring, where low intensity beam of CF⁺ ions at 93 keV/u has been shrunk to extremely small dimensions have been reproduced. Based on these simulations, conditions for stable ring operation with extremely low emittance beam are presented. Finally, results from studies into the interaction of ions with a gas jet target at 3–30 keV energy range are summarized.     

Commissioning of electron cooling in CSRm

A new generation electron cooler has started operation in the heavy ion synchrotron CSRm which is used to increase the intensity of heavy ions. Transverse cooling of the ion beam after horizontal multi-turn injection allows beam accumulation at the injection energy. After optimization of the accumulation process an intensity increase in a synchrotron pulse by more than one order of magnitude has been achieved. In given accumulation time interval of 10 seconds, 10⁸ particles have been accumulated and accelerated to the final energy. The momentum spread after accumulation and acceleration in the 10^－4 range has been demonstrated in six species of ion beams. Primary measurements of accumulation process varying with electron energy, electron beam current, electron beam profile, expansion factor and injection interval have been performed. The lifetimes of ion beams in the presence of electron beams were roughly measured with the help of DCCT signal.     

Atomic collision processes relevant for heavy ion beam probes

Atomic collision processes of fast Tl and Cs ions with particles in a high temperature fusion plasma are investigated. At low beam energies (<5 MeV), ion impact collisions and charge exchange processes can be neglected compared to electron ionization processes. At beam energies above 5 MeV and high plasma ion temperatures, collisions with ions start to contribute significantly to signal generation and attenuation. Also, collisions with the neutral background gas in the beamlines can attenuate the ion beam significantly and lower the signal level, if the vacuum pressure is above 10^-4 Torr. For the heavy ion beam probes operating today, only electron impact ionization processes are important and accurate predictions of the secondary signal level and electron density profile measurements are possible because of the good knowledge of electron impact ionization cross sections for Cs ⁺ and Tl⁺ ions     

Commissioning of electron cooling in CSRm

A new generation electron cooler has started operation in the heavy ion synchrotron CSRm which is used to increase the intensity of heavy ions. Transverse cooling of the ion beam after horizontal multi-turn injection allows beam accumulation at the injection energy. After optimization of the accumulation process an intensity increase in a synchrotron pulse by more than one order of magnitude has been achieved. In given accumulation time interval of 10 seconds, 108 particles have been accumulated and accelerated to the final energy. The momentum spread after accumulation and acceleration in the 10-4 range has been demonstrated in six species of ion beams. Primary measurements of accumulation process varying with electron energy, electron beam current, electron beam profile, expansion factor and injection interval have been performed. The lifetimes of ion beams in the presence of electron beams were roughly measured with the help of DCCT signal.     

RIKEN 18GHzECR离子源上金属离子的产生

At RIKEN,three ECR ion sources(10GHz ECRIS,18GHz ECRIS and liquid He-free SC-ECRIS) are operated as external ion sources of heavy ion accelerators.In the last year,multi-charged uranium ion beam was produced from 18GHz ECRIS by using UF_6 and the ~(238)U ion was successfully accelerated by the accelerator complex which consists of the RFQ linear accelerator,RIKEN heavy ion linear accelerator(RILAC)and RIKEN ring cyclotron accelerator(RRC).The typical beam intensity of~(238)U~(14 ) was about 2pμA on faraday cup after analysing magnet.~(70)Zn beam was still supplied for the new super-heavy element search experiment with insertion method.Intense beam of~(70)Zn~(16 ) was produced for long term(～43 days)without vacuum break and remarkably low material consumption rate(～100μgr/h).We already supplied Zn beam longer than 200 days for this experiment.~(48)Ca ion was also produced by insertion method using~(48)CaO rod for the nuclear physics experiment.In this contribution,we will present ion source parameter and techniques for production of each of the metal ions.     

Diffraction dissociation,an important background to photon-photon collisions via heavy ion beams at LHC

The cross sections for the production of hadrons in quasi-real photon-photon collisions in proton-proton and heavy ion interactions are compared with the corresponding cross sections for central diffraction and for photon-pomeron collisions. The signatures, heavy ions or protons with only slightly changed momenta together with two large rapidity gaps and a cluster of produced hadrons in the central region, are nearly identical in all three processes. Therefore, it will be rather difficult to distinguish the reactions experimentally. It is found, that central diffraction is the dominant process in collisions of protons, light and medium-heavy ions. The photon-pomeron and photon-photon processes have quite similar cross sections in collisions of heavy ions like lead.     

快重离子束实现点火的可行性

采用蒙特卡罗方法计算了低温下C,Si,Ar,Au和U等多种重粒子在等物质的量氘氚等离子体密度1000 g/cm3、热斑直径50 m中的电子能量损失,不同点火形式下入射能量和作用时间,以及燃料约束时间为20 ps条件下的束流强度。通过对数据的分析研究了这些重粒子辐照实现氘、氚燃料快点火的可能性。结果表明,重粒子束流加热等离子体实现快点火理论上可行,而且有一定的优势;较重的离子加热聚变等离子体的效果更好。重粒子束流加热等离子体到聚变温度需要的束流强度在MA左右;单个粒子的能量在GeV以上;相互作用时间为ps以下。     

快重离子束实现点火的可行性

采用蒙特卡罗方法计算了低温下C,Si,Ar,Au和U等多种重粒子在等物质的量氘氚等离子体密度1000 g/cm3、热斑直径50 m中的电子能量损失,不同点火形式下入射能量和作用时间,以及燃料约束时间为20 ps条件下的束流强度。通过对数据的分析研究了这些重粒子辐照实现氘、氚燃料快点火的可能性。结果表明,重粒子束流加热等离子体实现快点火理论上可行,而且有一定的优势;较重的离子加热聚变等离子体的效果更好。重粒子束流加热等离子体到聚变温度需要的束流强度在MA左右;单个粒子的能量在GeV以上;相互作用时间为ps以下。     

Photoproduction of quarkonium in proton-proton and nucleus-nucleus collisions

We discuss the photoproduction of Upsilon and J/psi at high energy pp, pp, and heavy ion colliders. We predict large rates in pp interactions at the Fermilab Tevatron and in pp and heavy ion interactions at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The J/psi is also produced copiously at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. These reactions can be used to study the gluon distribution in protons and heavy nuclei. We also show that the different CP symmetries of the initial states lead to large differences in the transverse momentum spectra of mesons produced in pp vs pp collisions.     

Photodissociation spectroscopy of OH+ molecular ions at the TSR storage ring

When infrared active molecular ions are stored in a heavy ion storage ring, a fast beam of vibrationally and rotationally relaxed molecules can be obtained. This opens up new opportunities for various experimental studies in molecular ion physics, particularly those involved with spectroscopy and dissociation dynamics of excited states. The analysis of such experiments is facilitated by the fact that the information on the initial states is able to identify and, therefore, eliminate them from the assignment problem. Moreover, when the intensity of the measured transitions is monitored as a function of storage time, the dependence of these processes on the degree of internal relaxation is revealed. We demonstrate these general principles by application to near threshold dissociation spectroscopy of the OH⁺ molecular ion. The structure of quasibound levels near the dissociation limit of OH⁺ and its dissociation energy are deduced. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

BRing中电荷交换引起的束流损失分布模拟计算

在强流重离子加速器运行中,带电粒子与真空管道中的残余气体分子相互作用发生的电荷交换反应是影响重离子束流寿命的关键因素。这种电荷交换过程导致的束流损失将解吸出真空管壁上吸附的气体分子,进而引起真空压力的动态变化,将严重影响加速器的稳定运行和最终束流引出流强。中国科学院近代物理研究所将在广东省惠州市建造的强流重离子加速器装置（High Intensity heavy-ion AcceleratorFacility,简称HIAF）利用增强器（Booster Ring,简称BRing）提供束流流强高达2×1011 ppp的238U35+用于核物理及原子物理等实验研究。对强流重离子加速器BRing中238U35+束流发生电荷交换反应,损失一个电子成为238U36+的过程进行了追踪模拟,计算得到了U36+损失前的运动径迹和全环粒子损失位置分布,模拟结果显示U36+受到色散元件的影响,将集中损失在位于二极磁铁后的漂移节区域中。基于模拟结果,在束流损失位置处设计安装由低解吸率材料制作的准直器,优化设计后的准直效率高达95%以上;并模拟计算了有无准直器时真空压力和束流流强的变化,安装准直器后BRing的平均真空度变化小于10%,将确保BRing加速器的稳定运行。During heavy ion accelerator operation, the charge exchange effect between ions and residual gas molecules is the key factor to influence beam lifetime. The charge exchange process has ions lost on the wall and leads to a dynamical vacuum change, which will seriously affect the accelerator operation and reduce the extraction beam intensity. The Institute of Modern Physics' future project, called High Intensity heavy ion Accelerator Facility (HIAF), will be built in Huizhou city, Guangdong Province, China. The Booster Ring (BRing) will provide 2×11 ppp 238U35+ for nuclear physics experiments. This article studies the track of particle U36+ before impacting on the wall, which is the reference particle U35+ losing one electron, and gets the U36+ loss distribution along the BRing. The simulation result shows that U36+ will be influenced seriously by dispersion elements, and will be lost in the drift sections after the dipoles. Collimators made out of materials with low desorption will be installed in the particles lost positions. The collimator efficiency after optimization can be larger than 95%. It also shows BRing average pressure change and beam intensity change between collimators on and off. The result points out that the BRing average pressure change will be less than 10% with collimators on, which makes BRing operate stably.     

磁场构型的影响及用于RIKEN的RIBF项目的新型ECR离子源

We measured the main plasma parameters(density of electron,temperature of electron and ion confinement time)and beam intensity of various heavy ions as a function of B_(min).The B_(min) strongly affects the field gradient at the resonance zone,consequently the plasma parameters and beam intensity are changed. Based on these experimental results,we started to construct new 18GHz ECRIS and make a detailed design of the 28GHz SC-ECRIS for RIKEN RI beam factory project.     

Low frequency electromagnetic waves in a multi-ion plasma

The dispersion characteristics of low-frequency electromagnetic waves are studied in a plasma containing hydrogen ions and positively and negatively charged oxygen ions and electrons. This composition of the plasma approximates very well the coma of comet Halley where many heavy ions have been observed in appreciable numbers. The excitation of these waves results from the relative motion between the protons and the heavy ions, which are considered unmagnetised and, therefore, may act like a beam. We find that the wave growth increases with increasing heavy ion densities, beam velocities and propagation angles.     

High power acceleration of an HSC type injector for cancer therapy

A hybrid single cavity(HSC) linac, which is formed by combining a radio frequency quadrupole(RFQ)and a drift tube(DT) structure into one interdigital-H(IH) cavity, is fabricated and assembled as a proof of principle injector for cancer therapy synchrotron, based on the culmination of several years of research. The HSC linac adopts a direct plasma injection scheme(DPIS), which can inject a high intensity heavy ion beam produced by a laser ion source(LIS). The input beam current of the HSC is designed to be 20 m A C~(6+) ions. According to numerical simulations, the HSC linac can accelerate a 6-m AC~(6+) beam, which meets the requirement of the needed particle number for cancer therapy(108-9ions/pulse). The HSC injector with the DPIS method makes the existing multiturn injection system and stripping system unnecessary, and can also bring down the size of the beam pipe in existing synchrotron magnets, which could reduce the whole cost of synchrotron. The radio frequency(rf) measurements show excellent rf properties for the resonator, with a measured Q equal to 91% of the simulated value. AC~(6+) ion beam extracted from the LIS was used for the HSC commissioning. In beam testing, we found the measured beam parameters agreed with simulations. More details of the measurements and the results of the high power test are reported in this paper.     

Atomic structure and collision dynamics with highly charged ions

The research progresses on the investigations of atomic structure and collision dynamics with highly charged ions based on the heavy ion storage rings and electron ion beam traps in recent 20 years are reviewed. The structure part covers test of quantum electrodynamics and electron correlation in strong Coulomb field studied through dielectronic recombination spectroscopy and VUV/x-ray spectroscopy. The collision dynamics part includes charge exchange dynamics in ion-atom collisions mainly in Bohr velocity region, ion-induced fragmentation mechanisms of molecules, hydrogen-bound and van de Waals bound clusters, interference, and phase information observed in ion-atom/molecule collisions. With this achievements, two aspects of theoretical studies related to low energy and relativistic energy collisions are presented. The applications of data relevant to key atomic processes like dielectronic recombination and charge exchanges involving highly charged ions are discussed. At the end of this review, some future prospects of research related to highly charged ions are proposed.     

Ultrahigh-intensity laser-produced plasmas as a compact heavy ioninjection source

The possibility of using high-intensity laser-produced plasmas as a source of energetic ions for heavy ion accelerators is addressed. Experiments have shown that neon ions greater than 6 MeV can be produced from gas jet plasmas, and well-collimated proton beams greater than 20 MeV have been produced from high intensity laser solid interactions. The proton beams from the back of thin targets appear to be more collimated and reproducible than are high-energy ions generated in the ablated plasma at the front of the target and may be more suitable for ion injection applications. Lead ions have been produced at energies up to 430 MeV     

磁场调控型离子源的设计与实验

磁场调控型离子源在离子源等离子体扩散空间中引入轴向强脉冲磁场,磁场起两方面的作用,一是形成潘宁放电效应,使原子、气体分子碰撞电离效率增加;二是在脉冲强磁场的作用下,强轴向磁场将质量较轻的离子约束在轴线上,对质量较重的金属离子约束能力较弱,导致其在等离子体膨胀引出通道中碰壁损失,能够提升引出轻离子的比例。开展了磁场调控的离子源放电结构、强脉冲螺线管磁场以及引出束流光学结构的设计;测量分析了引出离子流强和离子打靶束斑形貌。研究结果表明,强轴向磁场通过等离子体对混合离子成分的筛选作用,可有效提高引出离子流强中的轻离子成分比例。