Jieru Ren

First results of flowing liquid lithium limiter in HT-7

Two different types of flowing liquid lithium limiters were firstly installed and successfully tested in HT-7 tokamaks in 2012 and some encouraging results were obtained. Two limiters of the first type, called FLiLi limiters, used a thin lithium layer flowing under gravity. The other type had lithium-metal infused trenches (LIMIT) for thermoelectric magnetohydrodynamic drive of the liquid metal flow. The surface of one of the FLiLi limiters was coated by evaporated lithium before liquid lithium was injected by Ar pressure into a special distributor of the limiter. Then the liquid lithium could slowly move along the plasma facing guide surface of the limiter due to gravity. For LIMIT, it was found that liquid lithium could flow along the trenches as expected with a velocity of about 3.7 ± 0.5 cm s−1 driven by the electromagnetic force, which came from the interaction between the thermoelectric current and magnetic field. Use of flowing liquid lithium limiters in HT-7 resulted in reduction of particle recycling, suppression of impurity emission and improvement of the confinement.

Energy deposition by heavy ions: Additivity of kinetic and potential energy contributions in hillock formation on CaF2

Modification of surface and bulk properties of solids by irradiation with ion beams is a widely used technique with many applications in material science. In this study, we show that nano-hillocks on CaF2 crystal surfaces can be formed by individual impact of medium energy (3 and 5 MeV) highly charged ions (Xe22+ to Xe30+) as well as swift (kinetic energies between 12 and 58 MeV) heavy xenon ions. For very slow highly charged ions the appearance of hillocks is known to be linked to a threshold in potential energy (Ep) while for swift heavy ions a minimum electronic energy loss per unit length (Se) is necessary. With our results we bridge the gap between these two extreme cases and demonstrate, that with increasing energy deposition via Se the Ep-threshold for hillock production can be lowered substantially. Surprisingly, both mechanisms of energy deposition in the target surface seem to contribute in an additive way, which can be visualized in a phase diagram. We show that the inelastic thermal spike model, originally developed to describe such material modifications for swift heavy ions, can be extended to the case where both kinetic and potential energies are deposited into the surface.

Trends in heavy ion interaction with plasma

In this work, we review current trends in China to investigate beam plasma interaction phenomena. Recent progresses in China on low energy heavy ions and plasma interaction, ion beam-plasma interactions under the influences of magnetic fields, high energy heavy ion radiography through marginal range method, energy deposition of highly charged ions on surfaces and Raman spectroscopy of surfaces after irradiation of highly charged ions are presented.

X-ray emission induced by 1.2-3.6 MeV Kr13+ ions

X-ray emission from Kr13+ ions in the energy range 1.2-3.6 MeV in steps of 0.6 MeV impacting on an Au target was investigated on electron cyclotron resonance ion source at the Heavy Ion Research Facility in Lanzhou. It was found that a shift of the X-ray lines to the higher energy side occurred. We measured the relationship between the characteristic of X-ray yield of Au M X-rays and Kr L X-rays as a function of incident energy. Furthermore, M-shell X-ray production cross-section of Au induced by Kr13+ was measured. The measured cross-section of target is compared to the classical binary-encounter approximation and plane-wave-born approximation theoretical model, which is a significant different between experimental and theoretical model.

High energy electron radiography scheme with high spatial and temporal resolution in three dimension based on a e-LINAC

We present a scheme of electron beam radiography to dynamically diagnose the high energy density (HED) matter in three orthogonal directions simultaneously based on electron Linear Accelerator. The dynamic target information such as, its profile and density could be obtained through imaging the scattered electron beam passing through the target. Using an electron bunch train with flexible time structure, a very high temporal evolution could be achieved. In this proposed scheme, it is possible to obtain 10 10 frames/second in one experimental event, and the temporal resolution can go up to 1 ps, spatial resolution to 1 µm. Successful demonstration of this concept will have a major impact for both future inertial confinement fusion science and HED physics research.

K-shell ionization of Al induced by ions near the threshold energy

The K-shell ionization cross sections of Al induced by H+ and Ne7+ were studied. The ionization cross sections obtained are compared with the predictions of ECPSSR theory (based on the perturbed-stationary-state approach including Coulomb deflection, energy loss and relativistic corrections), BEA (binary encounter approximation) and 1sσ molecular-orbital ionization. It is found that the ECPSSR theoretical results agree with the experimental data very well for proton impact, while the BEA model with correction of Coulomb deflection shows good agreement with experimental results.

A study of highly charged ions interacting with a plasma target at the Institute of Modern Physics

A new experimental area for the investigation of ion beam matter interaction and ion beam plasma interaction was completed at the Institute of Modern Physics (Lanzhou, China). We report the details of this low-energy setup and first results on ion beam matter interaction, where we measured the charge state of O5+ ions at 1 MeV passing through a hydrogen gas target. The data were compared with the Monte-Carlo simulation results for cold hydrogen gas and hydrogen plasma.

Energy dependence of H2+ ions guided through tapered capillaries in PC

Transmission of H+2 ions through tapered capillaries in insulating polycarbonate (PC) foil is reported. Guiding, focusing effects and multi-peaks phenomena on ions through capillaries have been studied.

Target Z dependence of Xe L x-ray emission in heavy ion–atom collision near the Bohr velocity: influence of level matching

X-ray yields for the projectile L-shell have been measured for collisions between Xe20+ and thick solid targets throughout the periodic table with incident energies near the Bohr velocity. The yields show a very pronounced cyclic dependence on the target atomic number. This result indicates that Xe L x-ray emission intensity is greatly enhanced either in near-symmetric collisions or if the binding energy of the Xe M-shell matches the L- or N-shell binding energy of the target.

Temperature and energy effects on secondary electron emission from SiC ceramics induced by Xe 17+ ions

Secondary electron emission yield from the surface of SiC ceramics induced by Xe17+ ions has been measured as a function of target temperature and incident energy. In the temperature range of 463–659 K, the total yield gradually decreases with increasing target temperature. The decrease is about 57% for 3.2 MeV Xe17+ impact, and about 62% for 4.0 MeV Xe17+ impact, which is much larger than the decrease observed previously for ion impact at low charged states. The yield dependence on the temperature is discussed in terms of work function, because both kinetic electron emission and potential electron emission are influenced by work function. In addition, our experimental data show that the total electron yield gradually increases with the kinetic energy of projectile, when the target is at a constant temperature higher than room temperature. This result can be explained by electronic stopping power which plays an important role in kinetic electron emission.