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THz backward wave oscillator for plasma diagnostic in nuclear fusion

用于核聚变等离子体诊断的太赫兹后向波振荡器

基本信息

批准号：
EP/L026597/1
负责人：
Claudio Paoloni
金额：
$ 31.19万
依托单位：
Lancaster University
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Research Grant
财政年份：
2014
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2014 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FL026597%2F1
关键词：
THz backward wave oscillator plasma

项目摘要

Terahertz technology and nuclear fusion are two fascinating scientific fields of strategic importance for the scientific progress and a sustainable future. The technological challenges are formidable and require a joint effort at global level. The Lancaster University leads an ambitious project in collaboration with the University of Leeds and two international partners of the calibre of University of California Davis, US, and Beijing Vacuum Electronics Research Institute, China, to solve the lack of compact, affordable and powerful THz sources required to foster a breakthrough in the understanding of the mechanisms of nuclear fusion and to open new frontiers in many outstanding applications at THz frequency, presently limited only at laboratory level.Nuclear fusion is unanimously considered as a limitless and clean source of energy of the future. The UK strongly supports national fusion programs as MAST at the Culham Center for Fusion Energy (CCFE) and the ITER project for the first commercial fusion reactor. Cancer early diagnosis or burn diagnosis, imaging for non destructive quality inspection, food quality analysis, detection of dangerous or illegal substances, high sensitivity receiver for space explorations (about 97% of the space radiation is at THz frequency), wireless communications with the same data rate as multigigabit optical fibres, art conservation and many others are only some of the numerous outstanding applications of THz radiation. Further, the very low energy level (1/100000 in comparison to X-rays) of the THz radiation will not raise the same health concerns as X-rays, making its use acceptable to the general public.The nuclear fusion process requires extremely high temperatures (more than 100 million degree) for the fuel, a hot plasma, that has to be confined by a proper magnetic field. Unfortunately, due to perturbation causes, the plasma suffers from undesired turbulence that, if too intense, can lead up to the blocking of the fusion reaction. Measurement of plasma turbulence based on THz frequencies is of fundamental importance to define methodologies to strongly reduce the phenomenon. A team at University of California Davis (UC Davis) led by Prof. Neville Luhmann is realising a novel advanced plasma turbulence diagnostic system based on high-k collective Thomson scattering at THz frequencies to be tested at the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) and of interest to the MAST experiment in UK. The new system will require compact, affordable and powerful (above 100 mW) THz sources. The conventional electronic and photonic approaches fail to provide devices with adequate power and such sources, where available, are very narrow band, weak and expensive. The recent advances in microfabrication processes have opened new routes in realising micro vacuum electron devices to generate high power at THz frequencies. However, the technological challenges of affordable THz vacuum sources remain formidable. Lancaster University will lead this project for the realisation of the first compact, powerful, affordable 0.346 THz backward wave oscillator vacuum tube, supported by the outstanding technological facilities at Leeds University, UC Davies and BVERI, and will establish a new low cost fabrication process for fast prototyping assisted design and fabrication of metal microstructures for THz vacuum electron devices in the UK.This project represents a unique opportunity for UK academia to have a central role in the advancement of the knowledge in two fundamental scientific fields such as THz vacuum electronics and nuclear fusion. This research is the first step of a long-term joint strategy to develop a new family of compact, low cost THz sources to open new perspective in the THz science in the UK.

太赫兹技术和核聚变是两个迷人的科学领域，对科学进步和可持续发展的未来具有战略意义。技术挑战是艰巨的，需要在全球一级共同努力。兰开斯特大学与利兹大学以及美国加州大学戴维斯分校和中国北京真空电子研究所的两个国际合作伙伴合作，领导了一个雄心勃勃的项目，以解决缺乏紧凑，负担得起和强大的太赫兹源所需的问题，以促进对核聚变机制的理解取得突破，并在太赫兹频率的许多杰出应用中开辟新的领域。目前仅限于实验室水平。核聚变被一致认为是未来无限的清洁能源。英国大力支持国家核聚变项目，如Culham核聚变能源中心（CCFE）的MAST和首个商用核聚变反应堆ITER项目。癌症早期诊断或烧伤诊断、无损质量检测成像、食品质量分析、危险或非法物质检测、用于空间探索的高灵敏度接收器（约97%的空间辐射是在太赫兹频率）、具有与千兆位光纤相同数据速率的无线通信、艺术品保护和许多其他只是太赫兹辐射众多杰出应用中的一部分。此外，太赫兹辐射的极低能级（与x射线相比为十万分之一）不会引起与x射线相同的健康问题，因此公众可以接受使用太赫兹辐射。核聚变过程需要燃料的极高温度（超过1亿度），这是一种热等离子体，必须由适当的磁场限制。不幸的是，由于扰动原因，等离子体遭受不希望的湍流，如果太强烈，可能导致聚变反应的阻断。基于太赫兹频率的等离子体湍流测量对于确定有效减少这种现象的方法至关重要。由Neville Luhmann教授领导的加州大学戴维斯分校（UC Davis）团队正在实现一种基于太赫兹频率下高k集体汤姆森散射的新型先进等离子体湍流诊断系统，该系统将在普林斯顿等离子体物理实验室（PPPL）的国家球面环面实验（NSTX）中进行测试，并对英国的MAST实验感兴趣。新系统将需要紧凑、经济、强大（100mw以上）的太赫兹源。传统的电子和光子方法无法为设备提供足够的功率，而且这种来源在可用的情况下，波段非常窄，功率弱且昂贵。微加工技术的最新进展为实现在太赫兹频率下产生高功率的微真空电子器件开辟了新的途径。然而，廉价太赫兹真空源的技术挑战仍然是艰巨的。兰开斯特大学将领导这个项目，在利兹大学、加州大学戴维斯分校和BVERI的杰出技术设施的支持下，实现第一个紧凑、强大、价格合理的0.346太赫兹后向波振荡器真空管，并将建立一个新的低成本制造工艺，用于英国太赫兹真空电子器件的快速原型辅助设计和金属微结构制造。该项目为英国学术界提供了一个独特的机会，可以在太赫兹真空电子学和核聚变等两个基础科学领域的知识进步中发挥核心作用。这项研究是长期联合战略的第一步，旨在开发一系列新的紧凑，低成本的太赫兹源，为英国的太赫兹科学开辟新的视角。