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Beam loss control is one of the critical tasks during the operation of high-intensity charged particle accelerators. The paper presents the concept of a nondestructive beam loss monitoring system based on beam current transformers for a linear resonance proton accelerator of the DARIA compact neutron source. Features of the practical implementation and operation of the proposed beam current transformers based on ferrite cores and the necessary preamplifier electronics using transimpedance amplifiers are considered. Particular attention is paid to the method of monitoring the difference of the measured beam currents between two successive detectors and the principles of generating an alarm signal for the implementation of a fast emergency protection system for the accelerator. Control of the current difference is implemented on the fast integration and mutual comparison of the beam pulses charge passing through the detectors which increases the accuracy of measurements, while it is possible to select several discrete values of the measured difference: for the nominal operating mode and the accelerator tuning procedure, when beam losses can increase significantly. The system works at any beam pulse repetition rate, and to prevent false block from possible interferences, the final alarm signal is generated as the sum of three consecutive signals of the comparison circuit at the beam pulse repetition rate.

A novel method, which combines a multiple-beam extended interaction oscillator (EIO) with pseudospark-sourced (PS) sheet electron beams, is applied to generate high-power terahertz sources. For a multiple-beam EIO, the beam cross-section is significantly improved by replacing the commonly used pencil electron beams with sheet electron beams. The PS electron beams have the advantage of high current density and operate without a focus magnetic field. The volume of the cavity is larger when the EIO operates in the TM31-3π mode than in the conventional TM01-2π mode at the same operating frequency. The EIO operating at the terahertz frequency has a larger cavity volume, which means greater power capacity and lower manufacturing difficulty. For a PS multiple-beam EIO, the non-uniformity of electron beam currents is a common problem. In order to study this problem, an original high-order mode EIO driven by PS multiple sheet electron beams is presented with enhanced output power at 0.35 THz. The authors analyze electron beams with different currents through particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. Simulation results show that the EIO can operate stably even in the case of non-uniform PS electron beam currents. When each current is 1.4 A, simulation results show the EIO’s output power of 4.9 kW at 0.35 THz. Considering the low conductivity of 1.1 × 107 S/m, the efficiency is still 1.42%.

The effect of operating conditions on the time-dependent X-ray intensity variation is of great importance for the optimal EPMA conditions for accurate determinations of various elements in carbonate minerals. Beam diameters of 0, 1, 2, 5, 10, 15, and 20 μm, and beam currents of 3, 5, 10, 20, and 50 nA were tested. Ca, Mg, Zn, and Sr were found to be more sensitive to electron beam irradiation as compared to other elements, and small currents and large beam diameters minimized the time-dependent X-ray intensity variations. We determined the optimal EPMA operating conditions for elements in carbonate: 10 μm and 5 nA for calcite; 10 μm and 10 nA for dolomite; 5 μm and 10 nA or 10 μm and 20 nA for strontianite; and 20 nA and 5 μm for other carbonate. Elements sensitive to electron beam irradiation should be determined first. In addition, silicate minerals are preferred as standards rather than carbonate minerals.

Diagnostic Neutral Beam (DNB) has been used for measuring plasma parameters of tokamaks such as ion and electron temperature, safety factor, impurity concentration and etc. Ion source and electrical power supply specification are the main part of DNB. Arc discharge current value is affected by filament current and anode voltage. Beam current changes with arc current signal in our experiment that agree with theoretical relations. Sixty milli-ampere (60 mA) pulse beam current is because of arc current of about 40 A and extraction voltage of about 20 kV. The increase of beam current with arc current has been reported experimentally and effect of arc current on beam current has been investigated for several high extraction voltages. Optimum condition, which means having a telescopic beam (minimum divergence) for specific parameters of duoplasmatron, has been simulated and verified with experimental test. The best extraction voltage for these parameters has been found to be about 16-kV. The ratio of the perpendicular velocity to parallel velocity has been calculated to be about 0.012. It has been shown experimentally with optical emission spectroscopy that increase in arc current and magnetic current increase proton content of beam.

Significance Biological electron cryomicroscopy is limited by the radiation sensitivity of the samples and the consequent need to minimize exposure to the beam. This, in turn, results in low-contrast images with a poor signal-to-noise ratio. The current practice to improve phase contrast by defocusing results in contrast transfer functions necessitating image restoration to provide interpretable data. Phase plates enable in-focus phase contrast, but the existing ones, including the thin film Zernike-type phase plate, suffer from severe limitations, such as a short usable life span, fringing artifacts, and problems in using them in automated data acquisition procedures. The Volta phase plate presented here solves those problems and has the potential to become a practical solution for in-focus phase contrast in transmission electron microscopy. We describe a phase plate for transmission electron microscopy taking advantage of a hitherto-unknown phenomenon, namely a beam-induced Volta potential on the surface of a continuous thin film. The Volta potential is negative, indicating that it is not caused by beam-induced electrostatic charging. The film must be heated to ∼200 °C to prevent contamination and enable the Volta potential effect. The phase shift is created “on the fly” by the central diffraction beam eliminating the need for precise phase plate alignment. Images acquired with the Volta phase plate (VPP) show higher contrast and unlike Zernike phase plate images no fringing artifacts. Following installation into the microscope, the VPP has an initial settling time of about a week after which the phase shift behavior becomes stable. The VPP has a long service life and has been used for more than 6 mo without noticeable degradation in performance. The mechanism underlying the VPP is the same as the one responsible for the degradation over time of the performance of thin-film Zernike phase plates, but in the VPP it is used in a constructive way. The exact physics and/or chemistry behind the process causing the Volta potential are not fully understood, but experimental evidence suggests that radiation-induced surface modification combined with a chemical equilibrium between the surface and residual gases in the vacuum play an important role.

Over the last few years, a new mode for imaging in the scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) has gained attention as it permits the direct visualization of sample conductivity and electrical connectivity. When the electron beam (e-beam) is focused on the sample in the STEM, secondary electrons (SEs) are generated. If the sample is conductive and electrically connected to an amplifier, the SE current can be measured as a function of the e-beam position. This scenario is similar to the better-known scanning electron microscopy-based technique, electron beam-induced current imaging, except that the signal in the STEM is generated by the emission of SEs, hence the name secondary electron e-beam-induced current (SEEBIC), and in this case, the current flows in the opposite direction. Here, we provide a brief review of recent work in this area, examine the various contrast generation mechanisms associated with SEEBIC, and illustrate its use for the characterization of graphene nanoribbon devices.

An overview of high current (>1 mA) negative hydrogen ion (H-) sources that are currently used on particle accelerators. The current understanding of how H- ions are produced is summarised. Issues relating to caesium usage are explored. The different ways of expressing emittance and beam currents are clarified. Source technology naming conventions are defined and generalised descriptions of each source technology are provided. Examples of currently operating sources are outlined, with their current status and future outlook given. A comparative table is provided.

Nanowires require surface passivation due to their inherent large surface to volume ratio. We investigate the effect of embedding InP nanowires in different oxides with respect to surface passivation by use of electron beam induced current measurements enabled by a nanoprobe based system inside a scanning electron microscope. The measurements reveal remote doping due to fixed charge carriers in the passivating PO x /Al 2 O 3 shell in contrast to results using SiO x . We used time-resolved photoluminescence to characterize the lifetime of charge carriers to evaluate the success of surface passivation. In addition, spatially resolved internal quantum efficiency simulations support and correlate the two applied techniques. We find that atomic-layer deposited PO x /Al 2 O 3 has the potential to passivate the surface of InP nanowires, but at the cost of inducing a field-effect on the nanowires, altering their electrostatic potential profile. The results show the importance of using complementary techniques to correctly evaluate and interpret processing related effects for optimization of nanowire-based optoelectronic devices.

The 50 Cr(p, γ ) 51 Mn proton capture reaction has been used to study the photon strength functions by utilizing primary gamma ray transitions from the entry states to discrete states of known spins and parities. The reaction was conducted with the 3 MV Tandetron accelerator at iThemba LABS which delivered proton beams of 2.5 to 2.740, 2.760 to 3.0 MeV and 3.675 to 4.498 MeV in intervals of 20-25 keV with beam currents of up to 5 μ A. In this work the proton capture reaction was employed together with the Average Resonance Capture method to extract the shape of the PSF of 51 Mn.

The response of radiochromic dosimeters based on silicone is influenced by the dose-rate quenching and also the linear energy transfer (LET). However, the impact of curing time and composition on quenching has not been fully characterized. We investigated two dosimeter compositions, with 5% and 9% curing agent, which cured for 1, 3 or 5 days and that subsequently were irradiated with an 80 MeV proton beam with three different beam currents. Monte Carlo simulations were utilised for the estimation of dose, dose rate and LET profiles. We found a significant decrease in LET-dependent quenching with curing time, but no significant decrease in dose-rate-dependent quenching.