The machine protection system for the ELI-NP gamma beam system

The new Gamma Beam System (GBS) of the ELI-NPproject [1], currently under installation in Magurele (RO)by INFN, as part of EuroGammas consortium, can providegamma rays that open new possibilities for nuclear photonicsand nuclear physics.ELI-NP gamma rays are produced by Compton back-scattering to get monochromaticity (0,1% bandwidth), highflux (1013photons), tunable direction and energy up to19.5 MeV. Such gamma beam is obtained when a high-intensity laser collides a high-brightness electron beam withenergies up to740 MeV, a repetition rate of100 Hz, withtrains of 32 bunches within the same RF bucket.An advanced Machine Protection System (MPS) has beendeveloped, in order to ensure proper operation for this chal-lenging facility. The MPS operates on different layers of thecontrol system and is interfaced with all its sub-systems. Forinstance, it comprises different kind of beam loss monitors(based on Cherenkov optical fiber), hall probes, fast currenttransformer together with BPMs, and an embedded systembased on FPGA with distributed I/O over EtherCAT, to mon-itor vacuum and RF systems [2], which require fast responseto be interlocked within one RF pulse

Deposition and characterization of niobium films for SRF cavity application

Niobium coated copper cavities are an interesting alternative to bulk niobium ones for Superconducting Radio Frequency (SRF) applications to particle accelerators. The magnetron sputtering is the technology developed at CERN for depositing niobium Alms and applied over the past twenty years. Unfortunately, the observed degradation of the quality factor with increasing cavity voltage, not completely understood, prevents the use of this technology in future large accelerators designed to work at gradients higher than 30 MWm, with quality factors of the order of 1010 (or higher). At the beginning of the new millennium some new deposition techniques have been proposed to overcome the difficulties encountered with the sputtering technique. This paper compares the properties of niobium films obtained with the magnetron sputtering and with a cathodic arc deposition in ultra-high vacuum (UHVCA). The UHVCA-produced Nb Alms have structural and transport properties closer to the bulk ones, providing a promising alternative for niobium coated, highvoltage and high-Q copper RF cavities, with respect to the standard magnetron sputtering technique. Preliminary results and possible approaches to whole cavity UHVCA coating will be presented and discussed

imaging the coupling of terahertz radiation to a high electron mobility transistor in the near field

We used AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors as room-temperature direct detectors of radiation at 0.15 THz from a free electron laser, hence 5 times higher than their cutoff frequency of 30 GHz. By near-field active mapping we investigated the antenna-like coupling of the radiation to the transistor channel. We formulate a model for the detection based on self-mixing in the transistor channel. The noise equivalent power is found in the range of 10^{-7} W/Hz^{0.5} without any optimization of the device responsivity. Present day AlGaN/GaN fabrication technology may provide operation at higher frequency, integration of amplifiers for improved responsivity and fast switches for multiplexing, which make the detector here described the basic element of a monolithic terahertz focal plane array

Focusing of high-brightness electron beams with active-plasma lenses

Plasma-based technology promises a tremendous reduction in size of accelerators used for research, medical, and industrial applications, making it possible to develop tabletop machines accessible for a broader scientific community. By overcoming current limits of conventional accelerators and pushing particles to larger and larger energies, the availability of strong and tunable focusing optics is mandatory also because plasma-accelerated beams usually have large angular divergences. In this regard, active-plasma lenses represent a compact and affordable tool to generate radially symmetric magnetic fields several orders of magnitude larger than conventional quadrupoles and solenoids. However, it has been recently proved that the focusing can be highly nonlinear and induce a dramatic emittance growth. Here, we present experimental results showing how these nonlinearities can be minimized and lensing improved. These achievements represent a major breakthrough toward the miniaturization of next-generation focusing devices

First single-shot and non-intercepting longitudinal bunch diagnostics for comb-like beam by means of Electro-Optic Sampling

At SPARC-LAB,we have installed an Electro-Optic Sampling(EOS)experiment for single shot,non- destructive measurements of the longitudinal distribution charge of individual electron bunches.The profile of the electron bunch field is electro-optically encoded into aTi:Sa laser, having 130fs(rms)pulse length, directly derived from the photocathode's laser. The bunch profile information is spatially retrieved,i.e.,the laser crosses with an angle of 30 degrees with respect to the normal to the surface of EO crystal(ZnTe,GaP)and the bunch longitudinal profile is mapped into the laser's transverse profile. In particular,we used the EOS for a single-shot direct visualization of the time profile of a comb-like electron beam,consisting of two bunches, about 100fs(rms)long,sub-picosecond spaced with a total charge of 160pC. The electro-optic measurements(done with both ZnTe and GaP crystals)have been validated with both RF Deflector (RFD)and Michelson interferometer measurements

Recent results at SPARC_LAB

The current activity of the SPARC_LAB test-facility is focused on the realization of plasma-based acceleration experiments with the aim to provide accelerating field of the order of several GV/m while maintaining the overall quality (in terms of energy spread and emittance) of the accelerated electron bunch. In the following, the current status of such an activity is presented. We also show results related to the usability of plasmas as focusing lenses in view of a complete plasma-based focusing and accelerating system

The SPARC-LAB Thomson source commissioning

Abstract The SPARC_LAB Thomson source is presently under commissioning at LNF. An electron beam of energy between 30-150 MeV collides head-on with the laser pulse provided by the Ti:Sapphire laser FLAME, characterized in this phase by a length of 6 ps FWHM and by an energy ranging between 1 and 5 J. The key features of this system are the wide range of tunability of the X- rays yield energy, i.e. 20-500 keV, and the availability of a coupled quadrupole and solenoid focusing system, allowing to reach an electron beam size of 10-20 microns at the interaction point. The experimental results obtained in the February 2014 shifts are presented

Energy spread minimization in a beam-driven plasma wakefield accelerator

Next-generation plasma-based accelerators can push electron bunches to gigaelectronvolt energies within centimetre distances. The plasma, excited by a driver pulse, generates large electric fields that can efficiently accelerate a trailing witness bunch making possible the realization of laboratory-scale applications ranging from high-energy colliders to ultra-bright light sources. So far several experiments have demonstrated a significant acceleration but the resulting beam quality, especially the energy spread, is still far from state of the art conventional accelerators. Here we show the results of a beam-driven plasma acceleration experiment where we used an electron bunch as a driver followed by an ultra-short witness. The experiment demonstrates, for the first time, an innovative method to achieve an ultra-low energy spread of the accelerated witness of about 0.1%. This is an order of magnitude smaller than what has been obtained so far. The result can lead to a major breakthrough toward the optimization of the plasma acceleration process and its implementation in forthcoming compact machines for user-oriented applications

Retinoic acid-induced 1 gene haploinsufficiency alters lipid metabolism and causes autophagy defects in Smith-Magenis syndrome

Smith-Magenis syndrome (SMS) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by cognitive and behavioral symptoms, obesity, and sleep disturbance, and no therapy has been developed to alleviate its symptoms or delay disease onset. SMS occurs due to haploinsufficiency of the retinoic acid-induced-1 (RAI1) gene caused by either chromosomal deletion (SMS-del) or RAI1 missense/nonsense mutation. The molecular mechanisms underlying SMS are unknown. Here, we generated and characterized primary cells derived from four SMS patients (two with SMS-del and two carrying RAI1 point mutations) and four control subjects to investigate the pathogenetic processes underlying SMS. By combining transcriptomic and lipidomic analyses, we found altered expression of lipid and lysosomal genes, deregulation of lipid metabolism, accumulation of lipid droplets, and blocked autophagic flux. We also found that SMS cells exhibited increased cell death associated with the mitochondrial pathology and the production of reactive oxygen species. Treatment with N-acetylcysteine reduced cell death and lipid accumulation, which suggests a causative link between metabolic dyshomeostasis and cell viability. Our results highlight the pathological processes in human SMS cells involving lipid metabolism, autophagy defects and mitochondrial dysfunction and suggest new potential therapeutic targets for patient treatment

Overview of the FTU results

Since the 2016 IAEA Fusion Energy Conference, FTU operations have been mainly devoted to experiments on runaway electrons and investigations into a tin liquid limiter; other experiments have involved studies of elongated plasmas and dust. The tearing mode onset in the high density regime has been studied by means of the linear resistive code MARS, and the highly collisional regimes have been investigated. New diagnostics, such as a runaway electron imaging spectroscopy system for in-flight runaway studies and a triple Cherenkov probe for the measurement of escaping electrons, have been successfully installed and tested, and new capabilities of the collective Thomson scattering and the laser induced breakdown spectroscopy diagnostics have been explored