Element Aero, L.L.C. — Department of Defense STTR Phase I: MDA20-T005

Description

Presently, heavy-ion radiation testing of electronics relies on bringing samples to large particle accelerator facilities. To reduce the size of a heavy-ion accelerator and to bring the accelerator to the end users, we turn our attention to lasers. Short-pulse (fs) lasers capable of high powers and high intensities are useful for the generation and acceleration of ions. The interaction of an intense laser pulse with a dense target can generate short (~ps) collimated ion beams with energies up to GeV range and high repetition rates as well as extremely high beam intensities and ion fluencies. Such ion pulses are difficult to attain with conventional radio-frequency accelerators. Here we will explore several laser-driven ion generation and acceleration schemes and trade these against the available real estate gradient. Our objective is to develop a pathway to a brand-new ion source and a brand-new accelerator that are specifically designed for high-energy, heavy-ion beam testing of electronics bound for space applications. We will explore an ion source and a conventional accelerator as well as a pure laser-driven source and accelerator. The goal is to produce a range of ions to at least 100 MeV/n for testing Single Event Effects (SEE). Approved for Public Release |21-MDA-10789 (21 Apr 21)