Mechanical design of recirculating accelerator experiments for heavy-ion fusion

Recirculating induction accelerators have been studied as a potential low-cost driver for inertial fusion energy. At LLNL, we are developing a small (4.5-m diameter), scaled, experimental machine which will demonstrate many of the engineering solutions of a full scale driver. The small recirculator will accelerate singly ionized potassium ions from 80 to 320 keV and 2 to 8 mA, using electric dipoles for bending and permanent magnet quadrupoles for focusing in a compact periodic lattice. While very compact, and low cost, this design allows the investigation of most of the critical physics issues associated with space-charge-dominated beams in future IFE power plant drivers. Additionally, a straight magnetic-transport experiment is being carried out to test diagnostics and magnetic transport in preparation for the recirculator