Intense ion beam research at Los Alamos

Two new interdisciplinary programs are underway at Los Alamos involving the physics and technology of intense light ion beams. In contrast to high-power ICF applications, the LANL effort concentrates on the development of relatively low-voltage (50 to 800 kV) and long-pulsewidth (0.1 to 1 μs) beams. The first program involves the 1.2 MV, 300-kJ Anaconda generator which has been fitted with an extraction ion diode. Long pulsewidth ion beams have been accelerated, propagated, and extracted for a variety of magnetic field conditions. The primary application of this beam is the synthesis of novel materials. Initial experiments on the congruent evaporative deposition of metallic and ceramic thin films are reported. The second program involves the development of a 120-keV, 50-kA, 1-μs proton beam for the magnetic fusion program as an ion source for an intense diagnostic neutral beam. Ultra-bright, pulsed neutral beams will be required to successfully measure ion temperatures and thermalized alpha particle energy distributions in large, dense, ignited tokamaks such as ITER.