Lu Yuan-Rong

A Particle-in-cell scheme of the RFQ in the SSC-Linac

A 52 MHz Radio Frequency Quadrupole (RFQ) linear accelerator (linac) is designed to serve as an initial structure for the SSC-Linac system (injector into Separated Sector Cyclotron). The designed injection and output energy are 3.5 keV/u and 143 keV/u, respectively. The beam dynamics in this RFQ have been studied using a three-dimensional Particle-In-Cell (PIC) code BEAMPATH. Simulation results show that this RFQ structure is characterized by stable values of beam transmission efficiency (at least 95%) for both zero-current mode and the space charge dominated regime. The beam accelerated in the RFQ has good quality in both transverse and longitudinal directions, and could easily be accepted by Drift Tube Linac (DTL). The effect of the vane error and that of the space charge on the beam parameters have been studied as well to define the engineering tolerance for RFQ vane machining and alignment.

Mono-Energetic Proton Beam Acceleration in Laser Foil-Plasma Interactions

Acceleration of ions from ultrathin foils irradiated by intense circularly polarized laser pulses is investigated using a one-dimensional particle-in-cell code. As a circularly polarized laser wave heats the electrons much less efficiently than the wave of linear polarization, the ion can be synchronously accelerated and bunched by the electrostatic field, thus a monoenergetic and high intensity proton beam can be generated.

Preliminary Study on Neutron Radiography with Several Hundred keV Fast Neutrons

Several hundred keV fast neutron radiography (HKFNR) can be a complementary technique to common thermal neutron radiography (TNR) and several MeV fast neutron radiography (MFNR). We tested HKFNR on a 4.5 MV Van de Graaff accelerator, and the experimental results show that the spatial resolution of this technique is better than MFNR and close to TNR. Several hundred keV fast neutrons can penetrate some thermal neutron absorbers such as Cd, and it is feasible to investigate its use on some materials which are transparent to cold/thermal neutrons, such as aluminum, using this technique.

Radio-Frequency Power Test of a Four-Rod RFQ Accelerator for PKUNIFTY

A four-rod radio frequency quadruple (RFQ) accelerator is designed, manufactured, installed and commissioned for the Peking University Neutron Imaging Facility (PKUNIFTY). This 2699.6-mm-long RFQ accelerator with the mean aperture radius of 3.88mm is operating at 201.5 MHz in pulse mode. An inter-electrode voltage of 70 kV is needed to accelerate the injected 50 keV 40 mA D+ ions up to 2 MeV. We present the rf system, high rf power feeder design, lower rf measurements and higher rf power test. Especially, the rf commissioning was carried out with rf power up to ~280 kW and duty factor of 4%. The measured x-ray spectrum shows that the rf inter-electrode voltage reaches 70.7 kV. It is found that the specific shunt impedance of the RFQ cavity reaches 52.7 kΩm.

Simulation and experiments of rf tuning of a 201.5 MHz four-rod RFQ cavity

A four-rod radio frequency quadruple (RFQ) cavity has been built for the Peking University Neutron Imaging Facility (PKUNIFTY). The rf tuning of such a cavity is important to make the field distribution flat and to tune the cavitys resonant frequency to its operating value. Plate tuners are used to tune the RFQ, which have an effect on both the cavity frequency and field distribution. The rf performance of the RFQ and the effect of plate tuners are simulated. Based on the simulation, a code RFQTUNING is designed, which gives a fast way to tune the cavity. With the aid of the code the cavity frequency is tuned to 201.5 MHz and the flatness deviation of the field distribution is reduced to less than 5%.

Theoretical Design of a 104 MHz Ladder Type IH-RFQ Accelerator

Beam dynamics and rf designs of a 104 MHz ladder type IH-RFQ (L-IH-RFQ) accelerator are finished at Peking University for the acceleration of 14C+ from 40keV to 500keV. As a specific feature, the output beam energy spread is as low as 0.6% achieved with the internal discrete bunching method, which makes potential applications of RFQ feasible, such as accelerator mass spectrometry and ion implantation. Tolerances of the beam dynamics design are studied by means of changing the input beam parameters, and the results are quite satisfying. On the other hand, the L-IH-RFQ structure is employed, taking advantage of its mechanical stability and the absence of inter-electrode voltage asymmetry. Radio-frequency properties are studied and optimized for reducing power loss with Microwave Studio (MWS). Tuning of the field flatness and frequency is investigated in principle.

Study of separated function radio frequency quadrupoles accelerator

SFRFQ (Separated Function Radio Frequency Quadrupoles) accelerator is a new post accelerator of RFQ (Radio Frequency Quadrupoles) type, which has been developed since the beginning of the 1990s at Peking University. In order to demonstrate the possibility of the SFRFQ, a prototype cavity has been designed. A special dynamics design method has been proposed to avoid the sparking problem and decrease the energy spread at the exit of SFRFQ. It consists of two aspects: the asymmetry structure design for transverse focusing and the inner buncher design for longitudinal bunching. This allows the improvement of the beam properties without increasing the cavity length. The simulation results show that the energy spread can be substantially reduced by using the inner buncher in the SFRFQ structure.

Preliminary design of a laser accelerator beam line

A Compact laser plasma accelerator (CLAPA) is being built in Peking University, which is based on RPA-PSA mechanism or other acceleration mechanisms. According to the beam parameters from preparatory experiments and theoretical simulations, the beam line is preliminarily designed. The beam line is mainly constituted by common transport elements to deliver proton beam with the energy of 1~50MeV, energy spread of 0~1% and current of 0~108 proton per pulse to satisfy the requirement of different experiments. The simulation result of 15MeV proton beam with an energy spread of 1%, current of 1x108 proton per pulse and final spot radius of 9mm is presented in this paper.

Power Test of the Ladder IH-RFQ Accelerator at Peking University

A 104-MHz ladder interdigital-H radio frequency quadrupole accelerator (T-IH-RFQ) is developed for applying RFQs to heavy ion implantation and accelerator-based mass spectroscopy in recent years at the Institute of Heavy Ion Physics, Peking University. It could accelerate ions with a mass-to-charge ratio of less than 14, from 2.9 keV/u to 35.7 keV/u within a length of 1.1 m. The T-IH-RFQ cavity operating at H21(0) mode was constructed successfully. Based on a well designed rf power feeding system, the cavity was cold measured and tested with high rf power. In the case of cold measurement, the rf properties were obtained using a vector network analyzer with the help of a perturbation capacitor. During a high power test, the inter-electrode voltage was derived from the energy spectrum of x-rays measured by a high purity Ge detector. The results show that the specific shunt impedance of the T-IH-RFQ cavity reaches 178 k?m, which could meet the requirements of beam dynamics design.

Beam dynamics and RF design of trapezoidal IH-RFQ with low energy spread

Beam dynamics and RF design have been performed of a new type trapezoidal IH-RFQ operating at 104 MHz for acceleration of 14C+ in the framework of RFQ based 14C AMS facility at Peking University. Low energy spread RFQ beam dynamics design was approached by the method of internal discrete bunching. 14C+ will be accelerated from 40 keV to 500 keV with the length of about 1.1 m. The designed transmission efficiency is better than 95% and the energy spread is as low as 0.6%. Combining the beam dynamics design, a trapezoidal IH-RFQ structure was proposed, which can be cooled more easily and has better mechanical performance than traditional RFQ. Electromagnetic field distribution was simulated by using CST Microwave Studio (MWS). The specific shunt impedance and the quality factor were optimized primarily.