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(a) (b) (c)
This assembly is a critical element of the ISIS Active Interrogation Experiment. An electron beam energy selection magnet for a 60 MeV linac with
the top half removed exposes an intricate evacuated beam channel in which the electron beam propagates (a). The 60 MeV electron beam actually
exits the evacuated beam pipe through a thin aluminum window (b). After passing through the window and into the air, the electron beam strikes a
set of carbon plates (c) and stops, releasing an intense photon beam that then travels into space to interrogate large objects suspected of containing
concealed strategic nuclear materials.
isochronous cyclotron proton accelerator. In December
2010, this project leadership was assumed
by PSU-ARL, and MIT has, under contract to them,
continued into the final design and fabrication
stage of this device, referred to as the Megatron.
MIT is also under contract to PSU-ARL to develop
a proof-of-principle device called the Nanotron,
a small-scale superconducting cyclotron proton
accelerator for portable deployment in various
operational scenarios.
A fourth project, also using DTRA source funds, has
been received from Raytheon for the Integrated
Standoff Inspection System, or ISIS. This is an active
interrogation nuclear radiation detection system
that will provide the
government with an
accurate and reliable
inspection system that
is fully integrated and
automated.
Over the last decade, significant worldwide efforts
have been devoted to development of High-Temperature
Superconductor (HTS) wires of the first
generation BSCCO-2223, BSCCO-2212 and the second
generation YBCO for various electronic device
applications such as transformers, fault current
limiters, energy storage systems, magnets and
power transmission cables. Most HTS tape devices
have been using configurations employing single
tape or only a few tapes in parallel. Few cabling
methods of HTS tapes have been developed. Fusion
magnet applications require development of
high-current density cables capable of carrying
high currents, at high magnetic fields. We have
A high-energy photon beam can be scanned over
a target to detect products of induced fissions.
Under the fusion magnets
base program, our
efforts are now directed
at developing magnet
technology for devices
beyond ITER, and toward
the era of a DEMO.
We are doing this by the
development of very
high current cables
and joints using YBCO
2nd-generation hightemperature
superconductors
(HTS).
These two views show an elevation and a cross-section
of the smallest, most compact 10 MeV cyclotron ever
proposed. At the bottom of each view is a mechanical
cryocooler that reduces the temperatures of the
structure inside the cylindrical cryostat to less than
10 degrees Kelvin. This allows the superconducting
coils in the structure to operate at a total circulating
current of more than 1 million amperes. This current
produces a magnetic field 120,000 times higher than
the earth’s magnetic field, reducing the orbits of
protons accelerating in the structure to at most a few
centimeters in radius, and allowing a high final energy
in a compact device.
34 PSFC Progress Report 09–11