UM Accelerator Has Potential IFE Driver Applications.

University of Maryland (UM) is building an accelerator with potential application to heavy-ion drivers for inertial fusion energy (IFE).

It is an electron recirculating induction linac designed to be a model for a larger accelerator. The term "model" is appropriate since the energy, current and particle mass of such one-component beams can be scaled with confidence, given beam stability.

The electron energy, 10 keV, is kept low to make the particle velocity similar to heavy ions and reduce the size and cost of the accelerator. The number of turns is limited to avoid instabilities.

The goal is to produce high beam current, on the order of 100 times that of a conventional synchrotron, for perhaps 100 turns.

SCD Beams Critical

To make the method attractive, space-charge-dominated (SCD) beams must be used. Such beams behave like a one-component plasma compared to the single-particle behavior of conventional rings. However, SCD beam physics and limitations must be explored, along with other technical issues.

The UM facility, sponsored by the Department of Energy, is directed by Martin Reiser and Patrick O'Shea. FM Technologies (FMT) is responsible for the injector under a DOE small business research project. Under a DOE-sponsored collaboration, Michigan State University is fabricating major parts of the accelerator.

Innovative printed-circuit quadrupoles and dipoles, developed by FMT and UM, are used for the ring lattice.

The model has application to high-energy muon colliders as well as IFE. The project will be reported in detail at the Particle Accelerator Conference, March 29-April 2, in New York City (e-mail [e-mail]) and is also described on Web site: http://www.ipr.umd.edu/ebte/ring.