Thursday, May 12, 2022, 16:00
online only
(for the zoom link contact michael.spira@psi.ch, johannes.schlenk@psi.ch or
antonio.coutinho@psi.ch)
Daniel Winklehner, MIT
Abstract:
For the IsoDAR experiment in neutrino physics, we have developed a
compact and cost-effective cyclotron-based driver to produce very high
intensity beams. The system will be able to deliver continuous wave (cw)
particle beam currents of >10 mA of protons on target in the energy
regime around 60 MeV. This is a factor of 4 higher than the current
state-of-the-art for cyclotrons and a factor of 10 compared to what is
commercially available. All areas of physics that call for high cw
currents can greatly benefit from this result; e.g., particle physics,
medical isotope production, and energy research. This increase in beam
current is possible in part because the cyclotron is ab-initio designed
to include and utilize so-called vortex motion, which allows clean
extraction. Such a design process is only possible with the help of
high-fidelity particle-in-cell codes, like OPAL. Another novelty is the
use of a short linear accelerator embedded in the cyclotron yoke to
bunch the beam during axial injection. Finally, using the
H2+ molecular ion for acceleration instead of
protons relieves some of the space charge constraints during injection.
In this colloquium, I present an overview of the IsoDAR project and
other applications, and then show details of the design and simulations
of this new family of cyclotrons, including the pertinent physical
processes, and how we used machine learning for accelerator
optimization.