Understanding the effects of both plasmas and neutrons individually has been an important research question for decades. In the last few years, researchers have also seen hints that neutrons and plasma interact with one another to produce different effects on the reactor, but no careful and systematic investigation of these synergistic effects has been carried out until now.
Given that Tynan’s lab was already studying the effects of plasma on reactor wall materials with the PISCES-RF linear device that they developed, the team set out to design a system capable of also studying the effects of energetic ions that serve as neutron proxies.
The ions are created in the POSEIDON device and then hurtled across the laboratory at more than 1000 kilometers per second at energies of millions of electron volts. POSEIDON can produce ions from both gases and solid materials.
Two thirds of the way across the lab, the ion beams shot from POSEIDON meet a powerful magnetic field that steers the ion beams into the material sample within the plasma chamber. The setup allows researchers to study how the material reacts when it interacts with both plasma and high energy ions simulataneosly.
“The ion beam accelerator is up and running and fully integrated with the laboratory’s research infrastructure. We have already run a series of successful experiments, and our research collaborators are getting valuable data on their fusion-materials candidates that they can’t get anywhere else,” said Matthew Baldwin, Associate Research Scientist, Center for Energy Research at UC San Diego. Baldwin oversees the facility directly. “It’s extremely gratifying to be interacting with researchers from around campus and around the country who are getting ready to use the facility.”