S. L. Yakovenko

LEPTA project: Formation and injection of positron beam

The project of the Low-Energy Particle Toroidal Accumulator (LEPTA) has been developed and is put into operation at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (Dubna). The LEPTA facility is a small positron storage ring equipped with an electron cooling system. The project positron energy is 2–4 keV. The main purpose of the facility is to generate an intense flux of positronium atoms (the bound state of the electron and positron). The LEPTA storage ring was commissioned in September 2004. The positron injector was designed in 2005–2010, and the beam transport channel was constructed in 2011. The experiments on electron and positron injection from the injector into the accumulator were started in August 2011. The results are reported here.

POSITRON ANNIHILATION SPECTROSCOPY AT LEPTA FACILITY

The Low Energy Positron Toroidal Accumulator (LEPTA) at JINR proposed for generation of positronium in flight can be used for positron annihilation spectroscopy (PAS) [1]. The positron injector of the LEPTA facility can generate continuous a slow positron beam with the intensity up to 1∙107s-1 at the energy in the range of a few eV to 100 keV and width of the spectrum 1 – 2 eV. The injector is based on radioactive 22Na isotope. The solid neon is used as a moderator to generate monochromatic beam. The parameters of the positron beam allow scanning the condensed matter in depth up to 10 microns with resolutions less than 10 nanometers and investigating layered structures for microelectronics and properties of a surface.

The LEPTA Facility for Fundamental Studies of Positronium Physics and Positron Spectroscopy

At present time the Low Energy Positron Toroidal Accumulator (LEPTA) at JINR is under commissioning with circulating positron beam. The LEPTA facility is a small positron storage ring equipped with the electron cooling system and positron injector. The maximum positron energy is of 10 keV. The storage ring is aimed for generation of direct fluxes of ortho-positronium (o-Ps), produced in recombination of the positron beam circulating in the ring with single pass cooling electron beam. The project has few goals: annihilation spectroscopy (PAS) to monitoring defects of nanometer sizes in materials as a function of depth managed by the positron energy in a rage of a few eV to 100 keV.

Study of nonneutral plasma storage in a magnetic trap with a rotating electric field at the lepta facility

Results from experimental studies of plasma storage in a Penning-Malmberg trap at the LEPTA facility are presented. The number of stored particles is found to increase substantially when using the so-called “rotating wall” method, in which a transverse rotating electric field generated by a cylindrical segmented electrode cut into four pairs is applied to the plasma storage region. The conditions of transverse compression of the plasma bunch under the action of the rotating field and buffer gas are studied. The optimal storage parameters are determined for these experimental conditions. Mechanisms of the action of the rotating field and buffer gas on the process of plasma storage are discussed.

A cryogenic source of slow monochromatic positrons

A cryogenic source of slow monochromatic positrons based on 22Na radioactive isotope has been developed and produced at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research. A monochromatic beam is formed from a continuous β+ spectrum with energies of 0–0.5 MeV using a solid neon moderator frozen onto a copper substrate that is cooled to temperatures of 5–7 K. The efficiency of condensation of neon onto the substrate is >99.8%. A slow positron beam with an intensity of 5.8 × 103 particles/s and a mean energy of 1.2 eV at a spectrum width of 1 eV has been extracted from a 22Na-based test source. The fraction of decelerated positrons is 1% of the total flux.

Development of the Low Energy Particle Toroidal Accumulator project

The Low Energy Particle Toroidal Accumulator (LEPTA), a positron storage ring with electron cooling, was constructed and put in operation at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (Dubna). The storage ring is a generator of directed beams of ortho-positronium (o-Ps) produced upon the recombination of the beam of positrons circulating in the storage ring with a single-pass electron beam. In 2004 the storage ring was put in operation with the circulating electron beam. The source of positrons of the positron injector was tested with a new radioactive source delivered from South Africa. The positron trap was put in operation for electrons. The electron cooling system was tested with a pulsed electron beam. The progress in commissioning LEPTA is described in this paper.

Testing of a cryogenic source of slow monochromatic positrons

The results of testing a cryogenic source of slow monochromatic positrons based on the 22Na isotope, designed and constructed at JINR, are presented. A solid neon moderator was used to generate a monochromatic beam from the continuous β+ spectrum of 0–0.5 MeV, with solid neon being frozen to the base layer, which is cooled to the temperature of 5–7 K. Test source of the 22Na isotope allows the forming of a slow positron beam of intensity 5.8 × 103 part./s and the average energy 1.2 eV at a spectrum width of 1 eV. The efficiency of moderation is 1% of the total positron flux.

Storage ring with longitudinal magnetic field LEPTA (Stellatron)

The project of the Low Energy Particle Toroidal Accumulator (LEPTA) is dedicated to the construction of a positron storage ring with electron cooling of positrons circulating in the ring. Such a specific feature of LEPTA automatically enables it to be a generator of positronium (Ps) atoms, which appear in the recombination of positrons with cooling electrons inside the cooling section of the ring. The project has the following goals: particle dynamics in the modified betatron, electron cooling with a circulating beam, positronium generation in flight, positronium physics, and feasibility of antihydrogen generation in flight. All key elements of the ring—the kicker, electron beam injection system, helical quadrupole, septum magnet—have been tested, and the expected design parameters have been achieved for these elements. The construction of LEPTA has been completed, and the circulating electron beam has been achieved. This paper discusses the issues of particle dynamics in such an accelerator, the results of numerical simulation and experimental findings of the research into beam dynamics, measurement of betatron number and beam lifetime.

High-voltage electron cooler project for NICA collider

A high-voltage electron cooling system (ECS) with electron energy reaching 2.5 MeV for the NICA collider is being designed at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research. The ECS is being developed in correspondence with the available experience in manufacturing similar systems from around the world. The main feature of this design is the use of two cooling electron beams (one beam per collider ring); electrons are accelerated and decelerated by a common high-voltage generator. A conceptual project of high-voltage ECS has been developed. The cooler consists of three tanks filled with SF6 gas under pressure. Two of them contain electron-beam forming systems; each system consists of two electron guns, two electron collectors, and accelerating-decelerating tubes placed in a longitudinal magnetic field generated by a solenoid. The third tank contains a high-voltage generator based on the voltage-multiplying circuit.

Positron injector for LEPTA

The low energy positron injector for the Low Energy Particle Toroidal Accumulator (LEPTA) accumulator was assembled at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR). Key elements of the injector have been tested. The cryogenic source of slow positrons was tested with a test isotope 22Na of the initial activity of 0.8 MBk. A continuous slow positron beam intensity of 5.8 × 103 particle per second with an average energy of 1.2 eV and a spectrum width of 1 eV has been obtained. The achieved moderator efficiency is about 1%. The accumulation process in the positron trap was investigated with electron flux. The lifetime of the electrons in the trap, τlife ≥ 80 s and capture efficiency ɛ ∼ 0.4, were obtained. The maximum number of accumulated particles was N exper = 2 × 108 at the initial flux of 5 × 106 electrons s−1.