Hasil untuk "physics.acc-ph"

J. F. Parisi, A. Rutkowski

Producing valuable isotopes with high-flux high-energy neutrons generated by muon-catalyzed fusion ($μ$CF) reactions could substantially improve the economic prospects for muon-catalyzed fusion. Because no external heating is required for $μ$CF, heat flux constraints are significantly relaxed compared with fusion systems requiring external heating. This could allow $μ$CF to attain much higher neutron flux without breaching material heat flux limits. If muon production rates can be increased, $μ$CF systems employing transmutation could be viable well before energy breakeven is possible. For $μ$CF systems transmuting valuable isotopes, the required number of catalyzed fusion events per muon and muon energy generation cost can be relaxed by several orders of magnitude relative to electricity-generating systems, making $μ$CF an attractive high-flux neutron source. We show an example $μ$CF system with a 10 gram ${}^{226}\mathrm{Ra}$ feedstock and a steady-state muon rate of $10^{12}$ muons / second - roughly half a kilowatt of fusion power - could produce 20 mg of ${}^{225}\mathrm{Ac}$ per year - comparable to 400 times global supply in 2024. As higher muon rate sources become available, many other radioisotope transmutation pathways become viable. These findings motivate the accelerated development of $μ$CF systems for neutron-driven isotope production far before net energy generation is possible.

Jack Hirschman, Benjamin Mencer, Razib Obaid et al.

The emergence of high-repetition-rate x-ray free-electron lasers, such as SLAC's LCLS-II, serve as our canonical example for autonomous controls that necessitate high-throughput diagnostics paired with streaming computational pipelines capable of single-shot analysis with extremely low latency. We present the Deterministic Characterization with an Integrated Parallelizable Hybrid Resolver architecture, a hybrid machine learning framework designed for fast, accurate analysis of XFEL diagnostics using angular streaking-based sinogram images. This architecture integrates convolutional neural networks and bidirectional long short-term memory models to denoise input, identify x-ray sub-spike features, and extract sub-spike relative delays with sub-30 attosecond temporal resolution. Deployed on low-latency hardware, it achieves over 10~kHz throughput with \SI{168.3}{\micro\second} inference latency, indicating scalability to 14~kHz with FPGA integration. By transforming regression tasks into classification problems and leveraging optimized error encoding, we achieve high precision with low-latency performance that is critical for real-time streaming event selection and experimental control feedback signals. This represents a key development in real-time control pipelines for next-generation autonomous science, generally, and high repetition-rate x-ray experiments in particular.

Junyu Zhang, Xiangyu Wu, Pengyuan Qi et al.

The Circular Electron-Positron Collider (CEPC) can also work as a powerful and excellent synchrotron light source, which can generate high-quality synchrotron radiation. This synchrotron radiation has potential advantages in the medical field, with a broad spectrum, with energies ranging from visible light to x-rays used in conventional radiotherapy, up to several MeV. FLASH radiotherapy is one of the most advanced radiotherapy modalities. It is a radiotherapy method that uses ultra-high dose rate irradiation to achieve the treatment dose in an instant; the ultra-high dose rate used is generally greater than 40 Gy/s, and this type of radiotherapy can protect normal tissues well. In this paper, the treatment effect of CEPC synchrotron radiation for FLASH radiotherapy was evaluated by simulation. First, Geant4 simulation was used to build a synchrotron radiation radiotherapy beamline station, and then the dose rate that CEPC can produce was calculated. Then, a physicochemical model of radiotherapy response kinetics was established, and a large number of radiotherapy experimental data were comprehensively used to fit and determine the functional relationship between the treatment effect, dose rate and dose. Finally, the macroscopic treatment effect of FLASH radiotherapy was predicted using CEPC synchrotron radiation light through the dose rate and the above-mentioned functional relationship. The results show that CEPC synchrotron radiation beam is one of the best beams for FLASH radiotherapy.

Dominika Maslarova, Bertrand Martinez, Marija Vranic

Plasma acceleration is considered a prospective technology for building a compact multi-TeV electron-positron collider in the future. The challenge of this endeavor is greater for positrons than for the electrons because usually the self-generated fields from laser-plasma interaction are not well-suited for positron focusing and on-axis guiding. In addition, an external positron source is required, while electrons are naturally available in the plasma. Here, we study electron-positron pair generation by an orthogonal collision of a multi-PW laser pulse and a GeV electron beam by the nonlinear Breit-Wheeler process. We studied conditions favorable for positron deflection in the direction of the laser pulse propagation, which favors injection into the plasma for further acceleration. We demonstrate using the OSIRIS particle-in-cell framework that the radiation reaction triggered by ultra-high laser intensity plays a crucial role in the positron injection. It provides a suppression of the initial transverse momentum gained by the positrons from the Breit-Wheeler process. For the parameters used in this work, the intensity of at least 2.2x1023 W/cm2 is needed in order to inject more than 1% of positrons created. Above this threshold, the percentage of injected positrons rapidly increases with intensity. Moreover, subsequent direct laser acceleration of positrons in a plasma channel, using the same laser pulse that created them, can ensure a boost of the final positron energy by a factor of two. The positron focusing and guiding on the axis is provided by significant electron beam loading that changes the internal structure of the channel fields.

Martin Formanek, John P. Palastro, Marija Vranic et al.

We demonstrate the capability of Flying Focus (FF) laser pulses with $\ell = 1$ orbital angular momentum (OAM) to transversely confine ultra-relativistic charged particle bunches over macroscopic distances while maintaining a tight bunch radius. A FF pulse with $\ell = 1$ OAM creates a radial ponderomotive barrier that constrains the transverse motion of particles and travels with the bunch over extended distances. As compared to freely propagating bunches, which quickly diverge due to their initial momentum spread, the particles co-traveling with the ponderomotive barrier slowly oscillate around the laser pulse axis within the spot size of the pulse. This can be achieved at FF pulse energies that are orders of magnitude lower than required by Gaussian or Bessel pulses with OAM. The ponderomotive trapping is further enhanced by radiative cooling of the bunch resulting from rapid oscillations of the charged particles in the laser field. This cooling decreases the mean square radius and emittance of the bunch during propagation.

S. S. Bulanov, C. Benedetti, D. Terzani et al.

Plasma based acceleration is considered a promising concept for the next generation of linear electron-positron colliders. Despite the great progress achieved over last twenty years in laser technology, laser and beam driven particle acceleration, and special target availability, positron acceleration remains significantly underdeveloped if compared to electron acceleration. This is due to both the specifics of the plasma-based acceleration, and the lack of adequate positron sources tailored for the subsequent plasma based acceleration. Here a positron source based on the collision of a high energy electron beam with a high intensity laser pulse is proposed. The source relies on the subsequent multi-photon Compton and Breit-Wheeleer processes to generate an electron-positron pair out of a high energy photon emitted by an electron. Due to the strong dependence of the Breit-Wheeler process rate on photon energy and field strength, positrons are created with low divergence in a small volume around the peak of the laser pulse. The resulting low emittance in the submicron range potentially makes such positron source interesting for collider applications.

J. Magnusson, T. G. Blackburn, E. Gerstmayr et al.

Current experiments investigating radiation reaction employ high energy electron beams together with tightly focused laser pulses in order to reach the quantum regime, as expressed through the quantum nonlinearity parameter $χ$. Such experiments are often complicated by the large number of latent variables, including the precise structure of the electron bunch. Here we examine a correlation between the electron spatial and energy distributions, called an energy chirp, investigate its significance to the laser-electron beam interaction and show that the resulting effect cannot be trivially ignored when analysing current experiments. In particular, we show that the energy chirp has a large effect on the second moment of the electron energy, but a lesser impact on the first electron energy moment or the photon critical energy. These results show the importance of improved characterisation and control over electron bunch parameters on a shot-to-shot basis in such experiments.

Xinlu Xu, Jiaxin Liu, Thamine Dalichaouch et al.

Accelerator-based X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) are the latest addition to the revolutionary tools of discovery for the 21st century. The two major components of an XFEL are an accelerator-produced electron beam and a magnetic undulator which tend to be kilometer-scale long and expensive. Here, we present an ultra-compact scheme to produce 10s of attosecond X-ray pulses with several GW peak power utilizing a novel aspect of the FEL instability using a highly chirped, pre-bunched and ultra-bright electron beam from a plasma-based accelerator interacting with an optical undulator. The self-selection of electrons from the combination of a highly chirped and pre-bunched beam leads to the stable generation of attosecond X-ray pulses. Furthermore, two-color attosecond pulses with sub-femtosecond separation can be produced by adjusting the energy distribution of the electron beam so that multiple FEL resonances occur at different locations within the beam. Such a tunable coherent attosecond X-ray sources may open up a new area of attosecond science enabled by X-ray attosecond pump/probe techniques.

Cui-Wen Zhang, Mamat-Ali Bake, Hong Xiao et al.

We use numerical simulations to demonstrate that a source of bright collimated vortex $γ$-ray with large orbital angular momentum can be achieved by irradiating a circularly polarized laser with an intensity about $10^{22}\rm{W/{cm^2}}$ on a cone-fan target. In the studied setup, electron beam of energy of hundreds of MeV and vortex laser pulse are formed. And furthermore a high quality vortex $γ$-ray is yielded with small divergence of $5^{\circ}$ and high peak brilliance $\sim5\times10^{22}$ photons ${\rm\cdot s^{-1} \cdot mm^{-2} \cdot mrad^{-2}}$ $0.1\%\mathrm{BW}$ at $10\mathrm{MeV}$. A considerable fraction of angular momentum of laser is converted to electron beam and vortex $γ$-ray, which are roughly $27.8\%$ and $3\%$, respectively. And the conversion efficiency of energy from laser to electron beam and vortex $γ$-ray are around $41\%$ and $3.8\%$. Moreover, comparative simulations for different right radius of cone reveal that there exists an optimal size that makes the highest angular momentum of $γ$-ray photons to be around $2.8\times10^6\hbar$. The comparative simulations for different laser modes exhibit that it is more appropriate to choose the circularly polarized laser to generate vortex $γ$-ray than the Laguerre-Gaussian one.

H. -G. Jason Chou, Anna Grassi, Siegfried H. Glenzer et al.

The generation of compact, high-energy ion beams is one of the most promising applications of intense laser-matter interactions, but the control of the beam spectral quality remains an outstanding challenge. We show that in radiation pressure acceleration of a thin solid target the onset of electron heating is determined by the growth of the Rayleigh-Taylor-like instability at the front surface and must be controlled to produce ion beams with high spectral quality in the light sail regime. The growth rate of the instability imposes an upper limit on the laser pulse duration and intensity to achieve high spectral beam quality and we demonstrate that under this optimal regime, the maximum peak ion beam energy per nucleon is independent of target density, composition, and laser energy (transverse spot size). Our predictions are validated by two- and three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, which indicate that for recent and upcoming experimental facilities using ultrashort ($\lesssim 25$ fs) laser pulses it is possible to produce $100 - 300$ MeV proton beams with $\sim 30\%$ energy spread and high laser-to-proton energy conversion efficiency.

Jianbo Liu, Pengjie Wang, Yinren Shou et al.

We report the experimental results of simultaneous measurements on the electron and X-ray spectra from near-critical-density (NCD) double-layer targets irradiated by relativistic femtosecond pulses at the intensity of 5E19 W/cm^2. The dependence of the electron and X-ray spectra on the density and thickness of the NCD layer was studied. For the optimal targets, electrons with temperature of 5.5 MeV and X-rays with critical energy of 5 keV were obtained. 2D particle-in-cell simulations based on the experimental parameters confirm the electrons are accelerated in the plasma channel through direct laser acceleration, resulting in temperature significantly higher than the pondermotive temperature. Bright X-rays are generated from betatron emission and Thomson backscattering before the electrons leave the double-layer targets.

T. Spina, B. M. Tennis, J. Lee et al.

Nb$_3$Sn is a promising advanced material under development for superconducting radiofrequency (SRF) cavities. Past efforts have been focused primarily on small development-scale cavities, but large, often multi-celled cavities, are needed for particle accelerator applications. In this work, we report on successful Nb$_3$Sn coatings on Nb in a 1 m-long 9-cell Nb sample-host cavity at Fermilab. The geometry of the first coating with only one Sn source made it possible to study the influence of Sn flux on the microstructure. Based on these results, we postulate a connection between recently observed anomalously large thin grains and uncovered niobium spots observed in the past by other authors [Trenikhina 2018]. A phenomenological model to explain how these anomalously large grains could form is proposed. This model is invoked to provide possible explanations for literature results from several groups and to guide key process parameters to achieve uniform vapor-diffusion coatings, when applied to complex structures as the multi-cell cavity under study.

Marko Mayr, Ben Spiers, Ramy Aboushelbaya et al.

Laser and beam driven wakefields promise orders of magnitude increases in electric field gradients for particle accelerators for future applications. Key areas to explore include the emittance properties of the generated beams and overcoming the dephasing limit in the plasma. In this paper, the first in-depth study of the self-injection mechanism into wakefield structures from non-homogeneous cluster plasmas is provided using high-resolution two dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. The clusters which are typical structures caused by ejection of gases from a high-pressure gas jet have a diameter much smaller than the laser wavelength. Conclusive evidence is provided for the underlying mechanism that leads to particle trapping, comparing uniform and cluster plasma cases. The accelerated electron beam properties are found to be tunable by changing the cluster parameters. The mechanism explains enhanced beam charge paired with large transverse momentum and energy which has implications for the betatron x-ray flux. Finally, the impact of clusters on the high-power laser propagation behavior is discussed.

I. Domínguez, P. S. Mares Damas, P. L. M. Podesta Lerma et al.

We study the expected sensitivity at Belle and Belle II for four-body $τ^\mp \to X^\pm l^\mp l^\mp ν_τ$ decays where $l=e$ or $μ$ and $X=π$, $K$, $ρ$ and $K^*$ mesons. These decay processes violate the total lepton number ($|ΔL|=2$ ) and they can be induced by the exchange of Majorana neutrinos. In particular, we consider lifetimes in the accessible ranges of $τ_N$ = 5, 100 ps and extract the limits on $|V_{\ell N}|^2$ without any additional assumption on the relative size of the mixing matrix elements. For an integrated luminosity collected of 1 ab$^{-1}$ at Belle, we found significant sensitivity on branching fractions of the order BR($τ^\mp \to X^\pm l^\mp l^\mp ν_τ$) $\sim 10^{-8}$. For an integrated luminosity expected of 50 ab$^{-1}$ and intermediate luminosity of 10 ab$^{-1}$ at the Belle II, we found significant sensitivity on branching fractions of the order BR($τ^\mp \to X^\pm l^\mp l^\mp ν_τ$) $\sim 10^{-9}-10^{-8}$. We use these sensitivities to set limits for the exclusion regions on the parameter space $(m_N, |V_{\ell N}|^2)$ associated with the heavy neutrino; such that for a $|V_{\ell N}|^2 \sim \mathcal{O}(10^{-5})$ at $τ_N = 100$ ps, we find the bounds as $0.140 < m_N < 1.776$ GeV for $τ^- \to X^+ e^- e^- ν_τ$ and $0.245 < m_N < 1.671 $ GeV for $τ^- \to X^+ μ^- μ^- ν_τ$.

Alberto Marocchino, Enrica Chiadroni, Massimo Ferrario et al.

The present numerical investigation of a Plasma Wakefield Acceleration scenario in the weakly non linear regime with external injection is motivated by the upcoming campaigns at the SPARC\_LAB test facility where the final goal is to demonstrate modest gradient acceleration ($\sim$1 GV/m) with no quality loss. The accelerated bunch can be envisioned to seed a free electron laser. The numerical study has been conducted with the particle-in-cell code ${\tt ALaDyn}$, an exhaustive description of the plasma-acceleration version is provided. The configuration consider a two bunches setup with parameters in the facility range, the bunches are generated and pre-accelerated up to 100 MeV by a high brightness photo-injector prior plasma injection. To verify the working point robustness we have considered case scenario where the driver bunch reaches the plasma or with a larger dimension or with large emittance. We also present an analytical approach based on the envelope equation that allows to reduce the matching condition in the presence of a ramp. Here, we limit our interest to a simplified theoretical case with a linear plasma ramp. As a final aspect we propose to combine classical integrated bunch diagnostics with the test by Shapiro-Wilk, a mathematical test to diagnose bunch deviation from a Gaussian distribution.

J. White, A. Helenius

P. Antoniou, J. Hamilton, B. Koopman et al.

L. Martin, D. E. Damschen

R. Thomas, R. Meech

Susan A Carroll-Webb, J. Walther