Conceptual design of heavy ion beam compression using a wedge

Abstract

Heavy ion beams are a useful tool for conducting high energy density physics (HEDP) experiments. Target heating can be enhanced by beam compression, because a shorter pulse diminishes hydrodynamic expansion during irradiation. A conceptual design is introduced to compress ∼100 MeV/u to ∼GeV/u heavy ion beams using a wedge. By deflecting the beam with a time-varying field and placing a tailor-made wedge amid its path downstream, each transverse slice passes through matter of different thickness. The resulting energy loss creates a head-to-tail velocity gradient, and the wedge shape can be designed by using stopping power models to give maximum compression at the target. The compression ratio at the target was found to vary linearly with (head-to-tail centroid offset/spot radius) at the wedge. The latter should be approximately 10 to attain tenfold compression. The decline in beam quality due to projectile ionization, energy straggling, fragmentation, and scattering is shown to be acceptable for well-chosen wedge materials. A test experiment is proposed to verify the compression scheme and to study the beam-wedge interaction and its associated beam dynamics, which will facilitate further efforts towards a HEDP facility.