CLARA conceptual design report

This report describes the conceptual design of a proposed free electron laser test facility called CLARA that will be a major upgrade to the existing VELA accelerator test facility at Daresbury Laboratory in the UK. CLARA will be able to test a number of new free electron laser schemes that have been proposed but require a proof of principle experiment to confirm that they perform as predicted. The primary focus of CLARA will be on ultra short photon pulse generation which will take free electron lasers into a whole new regime, enabling a new area of photon science to emerge

Variabilidade da água disponível de uma terra roxa estruturada latossólica Available soil-water variability of a "terra roxa estruturada latossólica" (rhodic kanhapludalf)

A partir de 250 curvas de retenção da água no solo, elaboradas com amostras indeformadas coletadas de uma área de 6250 m² de uma Terra Roxa Estruturada Latossólica de Piracicaba,SP, foram calculados quatro conjuntos de valores de água disponível assumindo-se -1x10³, -6x10³, -1x10(4) e -3x10(4) Pa como possíveis valores de potencial mátrico correspondentes à capacidade de campo e -1,5x10³ Pa um possível valor correspondente ao ponto de murchamento permanente. Foram feitas medidas de posição (média), variabilidade (coeficiente de variação, assimetria e curtose) e numero necessário de amostras para estimar a média a um dado nível de probabilidade a fim de quantificar a variabilidade e a sensibilidade dos resultados em cada conjunto e entre conjuntos de valores de água disponível. A análise dos resultados mostrou que a variabilidade da água disponível, obtida à partir de dois valores de umidade da Curva de Retenção é muito maior que a variabilidade de cada valor individualmente. Ou seja, embora as variáveis envolvidas possam ser as mesmas, o grau de variabilidade (expresso, por exemplo, pelo coeficiente de variação) ou a sensibilidade das medidas (expressa pelo número necessário de amostras para estimar a média dentro de um determinado intervalo de confiança) pode ser bem distinto, indicando que nem sempre resultados de uma amostragem realizada com determinado objetivo poderá servir a outros, embora possam tratar-se de variáveis dependentes.<br>From 250 soil-water retention curves of an area of 6250 m² of a "Terra Roxa Estruturada Latossólica" (Rhodic Kanhapludalf) located in Piracicaba,SP, four sets of available soil-water were calculated assuming field capacity values based on soil-water contents corresponding to -1x10³, -6x10³, -1x10(4) and -3x10(4) Pa of soil water matric potential; and permanent wilting point based on soil-water contents corresponding to -1,5x10(6) Pa. Aiming to quantify the variability and the sensibility of the results for each set and among sets of soil available water values, the following calculations were made: position measurement (mean), variability (coefficient of variation, assimetry and kurtosis) and the necessary number of samples to estimate the mean at a specific probability level. The analysis of the results has shown that the variability of available soil-water values is much greater than the variability of field capacity and of permanent wilting point values used in the calculation. That is, even though the envolved variables can be the same, the degree of variability (expressed by the necessary number of samples needed to estimate the mean within a choosen interval confidence) can be very distinct, indicating that the results of a sampling, carried out for one specific objective can not always be used for another objective, even being dependent variables

Inverse Compton backscattering source driven by the multi-10 TW laser installed at Daresbury

Inverse Compton scattering is a promising method to implement a high brightness, ultra-short, energy tunable X-ray source at accelerator facilities. We have developed an inverse Compton backscattering X-ray source driven by the multi-10 TW laser installed at Daresbury. Hard X-rays, with spectral peaks ranging from 15 to 30 keV, depending on the scattering geometry, will be generated through the interaction of laser pulses with electron bunches delivered by the energy recovery linac machine, initially known as energy recovery linac prototype and subsequently renamed accelerators and lasers in combined experiments. X-ray pulses containing 9 107 photons per pulse will be created from head-on collisions, with a pulse duration comparable to the incoming electron bunch length. For transverse collisions 8 106 photons per pulse will be generated, where the laser pulse transit time defines the X-ray pulse duration. The peak spectral brightness is predicted to be 1021 photons/(s mm2 mrad2 0.1% Dl/l)