College Honors Program

Date of Creation

5-1-2022

Document Type

Campus Access Only

Department

Physics

First Advisor

Paul Oxley

Abstract

Our goal is to extend measurements of the lithium-proton charge transfer cross section to lower energies than have previously been measured. This will mimic collisions that occur near the walls of some nuclear fusion devices. To do this we require a new experimental method, called the “pulse sequencing” method.

Pulse sequencing requires that the protons involved in the collisions, and the charged lithium ions which are created in the collisions, be controlled by a series of carefully timed voltage pulses. These voltage pulses will simultaneously guide lithium ions towards a detector, and remove unwanted background ions from the collision site. Using a software called SIMION, we were able to simulate the trajectories of the protons, the lithium ions, and the background ions as they move through the electric fields created by the timed voltage pulses. These simulations allowed us to maximize the expected efficiency of detecting lithium ions in our experiments.

In addition to simulations, we tested the necessary equipment for our pulse sequencing experiment. This was done to determine exactly how well the equipment performs its intended functions in the pulse sequencing process. Additionally, we wrote a computer program in the LabView programming language to allow computer control of the necessary parameters in the pulse sequence.

Comments

Reader: Timothy Roach

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