A HIGH FIELD GYROTRON-DRIVEN SOURCE OF MULTIPLY CHARGED IONS

THE PROGRAM WILL INVESTIGATE USE OF THE RECENTLY DEVELOPED GYROTRON TUBE FOR DRIVING HIGH FIELD ELECTRON CYCLOTRON RESONANCE (ECR) SOURCES OF HIGHLY CHARGED HEAVY IONS. GYROTRONS CAN PRODUCE MANY KILOWATTS OF CONTINUOUS RF POWER AT FREQUENCIES BETWEEN 30 AND 300 GHZ (WAVELENGTHS BETWEEN 10 AND 1 MM) AT EFFICIENCIES OF UP TO 30%. THE SHORT WAVELENGTHS OF THE GYROTRON ALLOW ECR RESONANCE AT HIGHER MAGNETIC FIELDS THAN IN PRESENT KLYSTRON-DRIVEN ION SOURCES AND OFFER THE POTENTIAL FOR COMPACT AND INTENSE SOURCES OF HIGHLY CHARGED IONS. THE PHASE I RESEARCH WILL INVESTIGATE THE FREQUENCY SCALING OF ECR-DRIVEN SOURCES FOR MULTIPLY CHARGED HEAVY IONS AND ADDRESS THEORETICAL QUESTIONS ON PLASMA GENERATION; HEATING AND CONFINEMENT; ABSORPTION OF RFPOWER AT THE FUNDAMENTAL RESONANCE AND HIGHER HARMONICS; IONEXTRACTION; AND ENGINEERING PROBLEMS OF RF COUPLING, HEAT TRANSFER, MATERIALS, AND COSTS. A PRELIMINARY DESIGN WILL BE MADE IN PREPARATION FOR FINAL DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION, TESTING, AND EVALUATION OF A PROTOTYPE GYROTRON-DRIVEN ECR ION SOURCE IN A PHASE II RESEARCH PROGRAM.