Development of windowless liquid lithium targets for fragmentation and fission of 400-kW uranium beams

• Published in: Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section B, Beam interactions with materials and atoms Vol. 204; pp. 293 - 297
• Main Authors: Nolen, J.A., Reed, C.B., Hassanein, A., Novick, V.J., Plotkin, P., Specht, J.R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.05.2003
• Subjects: Heavy-ion fragmentation; High power target; Liquid lithium; Radioactive beam; Heavy-ion fragmentation; 29.25.Rm; 25.70.Mn; Liquid lithium; Radioactive beam; High power target
• ISSN: 0168-583X; 1872-9584
• DOI: 10.1016/S0168-583X(03)00506-8

The driver linac of the proposed rare isotope accelerator facility is designed to deliver 2×10 13 uranium ions per second at 400 MeV/u on target for radionuclide production via the fission and fragmentation mechanisms. The ion optics of the large acceptance, high-resolution fragment separators that follow the production target require primary beam spot widths of 1 mm. To cope with the resulting high power densities, windowless liquid lithium targets are being developed. The present designs build on existing experience with liquid lithium and liquid sodium systems that have been used for fusion and fission applications. However, no completely windowless systems have been developed or tested to date. For the beam power indicated above (400 kW), the flow requirements are up to about 20 m/s and 10 l/s linear and volume flow rates, respectively. The required target thickness is 1–1.5 g/cm 2 (2–3 cm lithium thickness). At this time a prototype windowless system with a lithium thickness of 1–2 cm is under construction. The prototype will be operated initially without beam in the Argonne liquid lithium test facility. The details of the design of the prototype and a progress report on its construction and testing will be presented.