WO1999056521A2 - Method and apparatus for the production of neutrons and other particles - Google Patents
Method and apparatus for the production of neutrons and other particles Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- WO1999056521A2 WO1999056521A2 PCT/US1999/008941 US9908941W WO9956521A2 WO 1999056521 A2 WO1999056521 A2 WO 1999056521A2 US 9908941 W US9908941 W US 9908941W WO 9956521 A2 WO9956521 A2 WO 9956521A2
- Authority
- WO
- WIPO (PCT)
- Prior art keywords
- microdroplets
- laser
- nuclei
- droplets
- droplet
- Prior art date
Links
Classifications
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H05—ELECTRIC TECHNIQUES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- H05G—X-RAY TECHNIQUE
- H05G2/00—Apparatus or processes specially adapted for producing X-rays, not involving X-ray tubes, e.g. involving generation of a plasma
- H05G2/001—X-ray radiation generated from plasma
- H05G2/003—X-ray radiation generated from plasma being produced from a liquid or gas
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G21—NUCLEAR PHYSICS; NUCLEAR ENGINEERING
- G21B—FUSION REACTORS
- G21B1/00—Thermonuclear fusion reactors
- G21B1/11—Details
- G21B1/23—Optical systems, e.g. for irradiating targets, for heating plasma or for plasma diagnostics
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H05—ELECTRIC TECHNIQUES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- H05G—X-RAY TECHNIQUE
- H05G2/00—Apparatus or processes specially adapted for producing X-rays, not involving X-ray tubes, e.g. involving generation of a plasma
- H05G2/001—X-ray radiation generated from plasma
- H05G2/008—X-ray radiation generated from plasma involving a beam of energy, e.g. laser or electron beam in the process of exciting the plasma
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H05—ELECTRIC TECHNIQUES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- H05H—PLASMA TECHNIQUE; PRODUCTION OF ACCELERATED ELECTRICALLY-CHARGED PARTICLES OR OF NEUTRONS; PRODUCTION OR ACCELERATION OF NEUTRAL MOLECULAR OR ATOMIC BEAMS
- H05H3/00—Production or acceleration of neutral particle beams, e.g. molecular or atomic beams
- H05H3/06—Generating neutron beams
-
- Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
- Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
- Y02E—REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION
- Y02E30/00—Energy generation of nuclear origin
- Y02E30/10—Nuclear fusion reactors
Definitions
- Free neutrons i.e., neutrons not bound into a nucleus
- One important use of free neutrons is the direct transmutation of high level nuclear waste, especially the nuclei of hazardous long-lived radionuclides, such as the transuranics and certain soluble, long-lived fission products (e.g., 129 I, "Tc, and 135 Cs), into stable nuclides or shorter-lived radionuclides that will decay into stable nuclides.
- the destruction of nuclear waste by this means requires the separation of the radio nuclides, transmutation processes with neutrons, and eventual disposal of the low level shorter-lived radio nuclides resulting from the transmutation process.
- Tritium is an unstable but valuable isotope ( 3 H) of hydrogen. Tritium primarily has been produced in specialized fission reactors that provide the necessary neutron flux.
- FIG. 1 shows the steps in a preferred method for producing neutrons and other particles.
- a droplet of a liquid material containing nuclei capable of fusion is generated in the first step.
- the second step is to illuminate the droplet, which preferably has a charge-to-size ratio close to the Rayleigh limit, with an infrared laser pulse.
- the third step which follows the illumination of the droplet with the infrared laser, the droplet experiences Coulomb explosion into an assembly or cloud of microdroplets.
- an ultra fast (sub-pico second) laser illuminates the assembly of microdroplets (see also FIG. 2) in order to heat the electrons in the microdroplets to kilovolt temperatures in less than the microsphere expansion time.
- the fusion rate N can be estimated by a well known formula to be approximately:
- the protons (p), tritium nuclei (t), and helium-3 nuclei are charged particles and may be screened out by the use of metal foils of appropriate thickness in the device 60. Alternatively, the other products of the deuterium reactions may be used.
- tritium is an essential component of thermonuclear devices and also may be used in making night sights.
- the tritium nuclei will become embedded in target substances (such as zirconium hydrate) in the device 60 and can be recovered by heating the target substances in a vacuum.
- FIG. 5 shows the droplet beam source 120 mounted inside a portion of the compartment 115 at one end of the casing 110.
- the surface tension of deuterium is 3.56 x 10 "3 N/m.
- the approximate Rayleigh limit charges are approximately or less than 300 e, 10 4 e, and 3> ⁇ 10 5 e for deuterium droplets with diameters 0.1 ⁇ m, 1 ⁇ m and 10 ⁇ m, respectively.
- For 10 ⁇ m diameter droplets at least 2 to 5 x 10 5 droplets/second may be expected, depending on the actual charge state of the droplet.
- For 100 ⁇ m diameter droplets at least 6000 droplets/second may be expected at the Rayleigh limit. This rate of production of droplets will be somewhat greater for droplets with lower charge density.
- the charged droplets are formed in the droplet chamber 31 at relatively high pressures (approximately 100 to 300 Torr for deuterium).
- the method and apparatus described above in connection with FIGS. 1-7 can be adapted to generate X-ray photons by changing the material of the microdroplets to include nuclei of sufficiently high atomic number (Z) that x-ray photons can be generated by recombination of highly ionized nuclei with electrons.
- Z atomic number
- the atoms of the material of the microdroplets are ionized so that the microdroplets each become an expanding shell of electrons concentrically aligned with a smaller expanding shell of heavily ionized nuclei or ions.
- the ions and electrons originating from one microdroplet will collide with ions and electrons originating from other microdroplets.
- ions and electrons As the ions and electrons cool, they will recombine (alternate step six in Fig. 1) and emit photons.
Abstract
Description
Claims
Priority Applications (2)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
EP99938692A EP1082727A2 (en) | 1998-05-06 | 1999-04-28 | Method and apparatus for the production of neutrons and other particles |
JP2000546569A JP2002514740A (en) | 1998-05-06 | 1999-04-28 | Methods and apparatus for producing neutrons and other particles |
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
US7402398A | 1998-05-06 | 1998-05-06 | |
US09/074,023 | 1998-05-06 |
Publications (2)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
---|---|
WO1999056521A2 true WO1999056521A2 (en) | 1999-11-11 |
WO1999056521A3 WO1999056521A3 (en) | 2000-06-29 |
Family
ID=22117226
Family Applications (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
PCT/US1999/008941 WO1999056521A2 (en) | 1998-05-06 | 1999-04-28 | Method and apparatus for the production of neutrons and other particles |
Country Status (3)
Country | Link |
---|---|
EP (1) | EP1082727A2 (en) |
JP (1) | JP2002514740A (en) |
WO (1) | WO1999056521A2 (en) |
Cited By (5)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
WO2002085080A1 (en) * | 2001-04-18 | 2002-10-24 | Commissariat A L'energie Atomique | Method and device for generating extreme ultraviolet radiation in particular for lithography |
JP2005525687A (en) * | 2002-05-13 | 2005-08-25 | ジェテック・アクチエボラーグ | Method and apparatus for producing radiation |
JP2010523985A (en) * | 2007-04-04 | 2010-07-15 | シナジー イノベーションズ インコーポレイテッド | System and method for generating forced collapse due to droplet impact in laser nanoparticle nucleated cavities for controlled nuclear reactions |
GB2503758A (en) * | 2012-05-08 | 2014-01-08 | M Dimoir Quaw | Implosive compressing unit |
US9363882B2 (en) | 2009-12-16 | 2016-06-07 | Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. | Neutron generation target, device, and method |
Families Citing this family (5)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
JP3879990B2 (en) * | 2002-05-17 | 2007-02-14 | 独立行政法人放射線医学総合研究所 | Slash gas target manufacturing method and apparatus |
JP4116425B2 (en) * | 2002-12-27 | 2008-07-09 | 浜松ホトニクス株式会社 | Deuteron generation target and deuteron generation target device |
JP5901210B2 (en) | 2011-10-06 | 2016-04-06 | 浜松ホトニクス株式会社 | Radiation generation apparatus and radiation generation method |
KR101574203B1 (en) * | 2014-10-13 | 2015-12-04 | 한국원자력연구원 | Device For Neutron Generation |
WO2021039541A1 (en) * | 2019-08-28 | 2021-03-04 | 国立大学法人大阪大学 | Neutron generation apparatus and neutron generation method |
Citations (19)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
GB879218A (en) * | 1959-05-05 | 1961-10-04 | Erwin Willy Becker | Improvements in or relating to a process for energy production by nuclear fusion |
DE1900524B1 (en) * | 1969-01-07 | 1970-08-27 | Dr Wolfgang Kaiser | Device for inducing nuclear fusion reactions with pulsed lasers aimed at fusible gases |
US3526575A (en) * | 1967-08-02 | 1970-09-01 | Willard H Bennett | Production and utilization of high density plasma |
US3626046A (en) * | 1968-12-16 | 1971-12-07 | Inst Plasmaphysik Gmbh | Method of making a solidified disc from material which is a gas at room temperature |
US3679897A (en) * | 1969-08-28 | 1972-07-25 | Trw Inc | Laser bombardment of microparticle beam for producing atomic particles in the form of a beam or an expanding cloud |
US3723246A (en) * | 1971-05-27 | 1973-03-27 | Atomic Energy Commission | Plasma production apparatus having droplet production means and laserpre-pulse means |
US3723703A (en) * | 1971-02-08 | 1973-03-27 | Atomic Energy Commission | Laser energized plasma source |
US3967215A (en) * | 1966-04-29 | 1976-06-29 | Bellak Johannes G | Laser reactor |
US4017578A (en) * | 1974-02-26 | 1977-04-12 | The United States Of America As Represented By The United States Energy Research And Development Administration | Method for producing laser targets |
DE2544043A1 (en) * | 1975-10-02 | 1977-08-25 | Wolf Dipl Ing Dr P Trommsdorff | Fusion reaction by implosion of hollow droplets - of fuel carrier liquid with high viscosity and low vapour pressure |
US4058486A (en) * | 1972-12-29 | 1977-11-15 | Battelle Memorial Institute | Producing X-rays |
US4292640A (en) * | 1980-03-28 | 1981-09-29 | International Business Machines Corporation | Closed loop compensation of ink jet aerodynamics |
US4302166A (en) * | 1976-04-22 | 1981-11-24 | Coulter Electronics, Inc. | Droplet forming apparatus for use in producing uniform particles |
US4322378A (en) * | 1978-06-15 | 1982-03-30 | University Of Illinois Foundation | Method for producing uniform spherical shells |
US4597936A (en) * | 1983-10-12 | 1986-07-01 | Ga Technologies Inc. | Lithium-containing neutron target particle |
US4926436A (en) * | 1988-08-11 | 1990-05-15 | Apricot S.A. | Accelerator for coherent bosons |
US5160696A (en) * | 1990-07-17 | 1992-11-03 | The United States Of America As Represented By The United States Department Of Energy | Apparatus for nuclear transmutation and power production using an intense accelerator-generated thermal neutron flux |
US5173610A (en) * | 1990-06-12 | 1992-12-22 | Apricot S.A. | Forming charges in liquid and generation of charged clusters |
US5397901A (en) * | 1990-06-12 | 1995-03-14 | American Technologies, Inc. | Forming charges in a fluid and generation of a charged beam |
Family Cites Families (1)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
JPS5324994A (en) * | 1976-08-18 | 1978-03-08 | Mitsubishi Atom Power Ind Inc | Liquid droplet producing device |
-
1999
- 1999-04-28 JP JP2000546569A patent/JP2002514740A/en active Pending
- 1999-04-28 EP EP99938692A patent/EP1082727A2/en not_active Withdrawn
- 1999-04-28 WO PCT/US1999/008941 patent/WO1999056521A2/en not_active Application Discontinuation
Patent Citations (19)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
GB879218A (en) * | 1959-05-05 | 1961-10-04 | Erwin Willy Becker | Improvements in or relating to a process for energy production by nuclear fusion |
US3967215A (en) * | 1966-04-29 | 1976-06-29 | Bellak Johannes G | Laser reactor |
US3526575A (en) * | 1967-08-02 | 1970-09-01 | Willard H Bennett | Production and utilization of high density plasma |
US3626046A (en) * | 1968-12-16 | 1971-12-07 | Inst Plasmaphysik Gmbh | Method of making a solidified disc from material which is a gas at room temperature |
DE1900524B1 (en) * | 1969-01-07 | 1970-08-27 | Dr Wolfgang Kaiser | Device for inducing nuclear fusion reactions with pulsed lasers aimed at fusible gases |
US3679897A (en) * | 1969-08-28 | 1972-07-25 | Trw Inc | Laser bombardment of microparticle beam for producing atomic particles in the form of a beam or an expanding cloud |
US3723703A (en) * | 1971-02-08 | 1973-03-27 | Atomic Energy Commission | Laser energized plasma source |
US3723246A (en) * | 1971-05-27 | 1973-03-27 | Atomic Energy Commission | Plasma production apparatus having droplet production means and laserpre-pulse means |
US4058486A (en) * | 1972-12-29 | 1977-11-15 | Battelle Memorial Institute | Producing X-rays |
US4017578A (en) * | 1974-02-26 | 1977-04-12 | The United States Of America As Represented By The United States Energy Research And Development Administration | Method for producing laser targets |
DE2544043A1 (en) * | 1975-10-02 | 1977-08-25 | Wolf Dipl Ing Dr P Trommsdorff | Fusion reaction by implosion of hollow droplets - of fuel carrier liquid with high viscosity and low vapour pressure |
US4302166A (en) * | 1976-04-22 | 1981-11-24 | Coulter Electronics, Inc. | Droplet forming apparatus for use in producing uniform particles |
US4322378A (en) * | 1978-06-15 | 1982-03-30 | University Of Illinois Foundation | Method for producing uniform spherical shells |
US4292640A (en) * | 1980-03-28 | 1981-09-29 | International Business Machines Corporation | Closed loop compensation of ink jet aerodynamics |
US4597936A (en) * | 1983-10-12 | 1986-07-01 | Ga Technologies Inc. | Lithium-containing neutron target particle |
US4926436A (en) * | 1988-08-11 | 1990-05-15 | Apricot S.A. | Accelerator for coherent bosons |
US5173610A (en) * | 1990-06-12 | 1992-12-22 | Apricot S.A. | Forming charges in liquid and generation of charged clusters |
US5397901A (en) * | 1990-06-12 | 1995-03-14 | American Technologies, Inc. | Forming charges in a fluid and generation of a charged beam |
US5160696A (en) * | 1990-07-17 | 1992-11-03 | The United States Of America As Represented By The United States Department Of Energy | Apparatus for nuclear transmutation and power production using an intense accelerator-generated thermal neutron flux |
Non-Patent Citations (6)
Title |
---|
BERWALD ET AL.: 'Preliminary design and Neutronic Analysis of a Laser Fusion Driven Actinide Waste Burning Hybrid Reactor' NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY vol. 42, January 1979, pages 34 - 50, XP002925957 * |
DITMIRE ET AL.: 'High-energy ions produced in explosions of superheated atomic clusters' NATURE vol. 386, 06 March 1997, pages 54 - 56, XP002925956 * |
HENDERSON ET AL.: 'Cryogenic Laser Fusion Targets by Point-Contact Conduction Cooling' NUCLEAR ENGINEERING QUESTIONS: POWER, REPROCESSING, WASTE, DECONTAMINATION, FUSION - THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERS vol. 75, no. 191, pages 219 - 228, XP002925959 * |
JARBOE ET AL.: 'Apparatur for Producing Laser Targets of 50 Micron Deuterium Pellets' REV. SCI. INSTRUM. vol. 45, no. 3, March 1974, pages 431 - 433, XP002925961 * |
LEE ET AL.: 'Fission Product Hazard Reduction Using Inertial Fusion Energy' INERTIAL CONFINEMENT FUSION - 1992 ICF ANNUAL REPORT June 1993, pages 189 - 193, XP002925960 * |
VALEO ET AL.: 'Microsphere-based short-wavelenght recombination x-ray laser' THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY-PHYSICAL REVIEW E vol. 47, no. 2, February 1993, pages 1321 - 1336, XP002925958 * |
Cited By (6)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
WO2002085080A1 (en) * | 2001-04-18 | 2002-10-24 | Commissariat A L'energie Atomique | Method and device for generating extreme ultraviolet radiation in particular for lithography |
FR2823949A1 (en) * | 2001-04-18 | 2002-10-25 | Commissariat Energie Atomique | Generating extreme ultraviolet radiation in particular for lithography involves interacting a laser beam with a dense mist of micro-droplets of a liquefied rare gas, especially xenon |
JP2005525687A (en) * | 2002-05-13 | 2005-08-25 | ジェテック・アクチエボラーグ | Method and apparatus for producing radiation |
JP2010523985A (en) * | 2007-04-04 | 2010-07-15 | シナジー イノベーションズ インコーポレイテッド | System and method for generating forced collapse due to droplet impact in laser nanoparticle nucleated cavities for controlled nuclear reactions |
US9363882B2 (en) | 2009-12-16 | 2016-06-07 | Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. | Neutron generation target, device, and method |
GB2503758A (en) * | 2012-05-08 | 2014-01-08 | M Dimoir Quaw | Implosive compressing unit |
Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
---|---|
JP2002514740A (en) | 2002-05-21 |
EP1082727A2 (en) | 2001-03-14 |
WO1999056521A3 (en) | 2000-06-29 |
Similar Documents
Publication | Publication Date | Title |
---|---|---|
US11462334B2 (en) | Direct energy conversion assembly for nuclear fusion systems | |
Hoffmann et al. | Energy loss of heavy ions in a plasma target | |
Pauly | Atom, Molecule, and Cluster Beams II: Cluster Beams, Fast and Slow Beams, Accessory Equipment and Applications | |
Ditmire et al. | High-energy ions produced in explosions of superheated atomic clusters | |
Gribkov et al. | Plasma dynamics in PF-1000 device under full-scale energy storage: I. Pinch dynamics, shock-wave diffraction, and inertial electrode | |
JP7327881B2 (en) | Fusion reaction method, apparatus and system | |
Mendonça et al. | Proton and neutron sources using terawatt lasers | |
WO1999056521A2 (en) | Method and apparatus for the production of neutrons and other particles | |
Buersgens et al. | Angular distribution of neutrons from deuterated cluster explosions driven by femtosecond laser pulses | |
US3679897A (en) | Laser bombardment of microparticle beam for producing atomic particles in the form of a beam or an expanding cloud | |
Rai et al. | Study of optical emission from laser-produced plasma expanding across an external magnetic field | |
Deutsch | Fast ignition schemes for inertial confinement fusion | |
Tisch et al. | Interaction of intense laser pulses with atomic clusters: Measurements of ion emission, simulations and applications | |
Hutchinsons et al. | High–intensity lasers: interactions with atoms, molecules and clusters | |
Lécz et al. | Hybrid acceleration of compact ion bunches by few-cycle laser pulses in gas jets of two atomic species | |
Borghesi et al. | Propagation issues and energetic particle production in laser–plasma interactions at intensities exceeding 1019 W/cm2 | |
US20220375629A1 (en) | Methods, devices and systems for fusion reactions | |
Rai et al. | Dynamics, stability and emission of radiation from laser produced plasma expanding across an external magnetic field | |
Schwoerer | Generation of x-rays by intense femtosecond lasers | |
Hoffmann et al. | High energy density physics with intense particle and laser beams | |
Zweiback et al. | Nuclear fusion driven by Coulomb explosions of deuterium clusters | |
Ramsden | Laser Produced Plasmas | |
Hoffmann et al. | Intense beam-target interaction experiments with heavy ions | |
Hoffmann et al. | Interaction of heavy ions with hot ionized matter | |
Sahlin | Electromagnetic brake |
Legal Events
Date | Code | Title | Description |
---|---|---|---|
AK | Designated states |
Kind code of ref document: A2 Designated state(s): JP |
|
AL | Designated countries for regional patents |
Kind code of ref document: A2 Designated state(s): AT BE CH CY DE DK ES FI FR GB GR IE IT LU MC NL PT SE |
|
121 | Ep: the epo has been informed by wipo that ep was designated in this application | ||
DFPE | Request for preliminary examination filed prior to expiration of 19th month from priority date (pct application filed before 20040101) | ||
AK | Designated states |
Kind code of ref document: A3 Designated state(s): JP |
|
AL | Designated countries for regional patents |
Kind code of ref document: A3 Designated state(s): AT BE CH CY DE DK ES FI FR GB GR IE IT LU MC NL PT SE |
|
ENP | Entry into the national phase |
Ref country code: JP Ref document number: 2000 546569 Kind code of ref document: A Format of ref document f/p: F |
|
WWE | Wipo information: entry into national phase |
Ref document number: 1999938692 Country of ref document: EP |
|
WWW | Wipo information: withdrawn in national office |
Ref document number: 1999938692 Country of ref document: EP |
|
WWP | Wipo information: published in national office |
Ref document number: 1999938692 Country of ref document: EP |