Surface Cleaning Dramatically Increases Lithium Ion Production Efficiency on SABRE
The lithium production efficiency on the SABRE extraction ion diode at Sandia National Laboratories was
recently increased by a factor of 2.5 using surface cleaning techniques. The absolute amount of high energy
lithium increased by a factor of two. The principal cleaning methods are RF and DC plasma discharges.
Recontamination of the anode is limited by rapidly heating the anode to 200 to 600 degrees C, thereby
reducing the surface sticking coefficient and stimulating thermal desorption. The rapid heating is accomplished
with a unique inductive heating system developed at Sandia. Cooling the cathodes to about -200 degrees C
delays formation of cathode plasma. Implementation of these techniques on the PBFA-II accelerator is expected
to have a dramatic impact upon light-ion inertial confinement fusion experiments in increasing lithium beam
output, intensity on target, and hohlraum temperature. Surface cleaning hardware to be installed on PBFA II in
October includes a titanium gettering system that will provide differential vacuum pumping of liberated surface
contaminants in the form of protons, carbon, and other energetic high-Z ions.
Other Reports on High Energy Density and Inertial Confinement Fusion
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