Heavy-ion fusion injector experiments

Summary  We report on three experiments performed in connection with the 2MV electrostatic quadrupole (ESQ) injector under construction at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. Scaled experiments have been conducted to study possible beam emittance growth due to beam aberrations in an ESQ injector. The experiment uses the SBTE (Single Beam Transport Experiment) accelerator system, quarter-scale ESQ set-up and a potassium ion diode source. Measured emittance growth changes significantly with variations in current and diode energy, in good agreement with theoretical predictions. In addition, beam transport experiments were performed in a 1MV axisymmetric electrostatic aperture column using a zeolite 1″ diameter potassium ion source. Experimental measurements in good agreement with 2-1/2D simulations showed that low-emittance beams can be produced in axisymmetric structures. Finally, ESQ breakdown voltage tests without beam were performed at up to two times the quadrupole working voltage.