Okamura Masahiro, Ikeda Shunsuke, Kanesue Takeshi, Takahashi Kazumasa, Cannavó Antonino, Ceccio Giovanni, Cassisa Anastasia
Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY, 11973, USA.
RIKEN, Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama, 351-0198, Japan.
Sci Rep. 2022 Aug 18;12(1):14016. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-18270-0.
As an alternative to research nuclear reactors, a compact accelerator-driven neutron generator that uses a lithium beam driver could be a promising candidate since it produces almost no undesired radiation. However, providing an intense lithium-ion beam has been difficult, and it has been thought that the practical application of such a device would be impossible. The most critical problem of insufficient ion fluxes has been solved by applying a direct plasma injection scheme. In this scheme, a pulsed high-density plasma from a metallic lithium foil generated by laser ablation is efficiently injected and accelerated by a radio-frequency quadrupole linear accelerator (RFQ linac). We have obtained a peak beam current of 35 mA accelerated to 1.43 MeV, which is two orders of magnitude higher than a conventional injector and accelerator system can deliver.
作为研究用核反应堆的替代方案，一种使用锂束驱动器的紧凑型加速器驱动中子发生器可能是一个很有前途的候选者，因为它几乎不产生不需要的辐射。然而，提供强锂离子束一直很困难，人们认为这种装置的实际应用是不可能的。通过应用直接等离子体注入方案，最关键的离子通量不足问题已得到解决。在该方案中，由激光烧蚀产生的来自金属锂箔的脉冲高密度等离子体被射频四极线性加速器（RFQ直线加速器）有效地注入并加速。我们已经获得了加速到1.43 MeV的35 mA的峰值束流，这比传统的注入器和加速器系统所能提供的束流高两个数量级。
