Studies of nanotube channeling for efficient beam scraping at accelerators

Abstract

While particle beam steering (and in particular, "scraping") in accelerators by bent channeling crystals is an established technique extensively tested at IHEP Protvino and other major high-energy labs, an interesting question is how one could improve channeling capabilities by applying modern nanotechnology. Theoretical research of nanotube channeling was in progress over recent years. In this work, we assess potential benefits from nanotube channeling for real accelerator systems. We report simulation studies of channeling in nanostructured material (carbon SWNT and MWNT) tested for possible serving as a primary scraper for the collimation systems of hadron colliders. The advantages of nanostructured material as a potential choice for a primary scraper in a high-energy accelerator such as LHC or the Tevatron are discussed in comparison to crystal lattices and amorphous material. We evaluate physical processes relevant to this application and reveal nanotechnology requirements.

Channeling and Radiation in Periodically Bent Crystals

“…The crystal size is 4 × 2 × 0.3 mm 3 . Strong crystalline fields allow one to bring the period λ u of bending down to the hundred or even ten micron range, which is two to five orders of magnitude smaller than the period of a conventional undulator [65][66][67][68]. Right bottom a Si 1−x Ge x superlattice crystalline undulator with four periods.…”

Channeling of protons through carbon nanotubes embedded in dielectric media

“…Besides such diagnostic applications, we would like to mention the possibility of producing nanosized ion beams with the nanotubes embedded in various dielectric media for applications in biomedical research [6,12,13]. Our findings can shed more light on the issue of shape of the spatial distribution of channeled ions suitable for such applications, especially if there are concerns about the increase of the proton flux in the peripheral region of a nanosized ion beam at the expense of the flux in its central region.…”

“…Theoretical modeling of ion channeling through carbon nanotubes has reached a mature level [1][2][3] whereas experimental realization of this process is still at the preliminary stage [4,5]. Nevertheless, theoreticians continue to explore possible applications of ion channeling through the nanotubes, beginning with those based on the angular distributions of channeled ions, e.g., for the purpose of deflecting ion beams in accelerators [6,7] or determining some structural details of the short nanotubes using the rainbow effect [8][9][10][11]. Besides, theoretical studies of the spatial distributions of channeled ions have demonstrated the possibility of creating nanosized ion beams, which could find interesting applications in biomedical research and for materials modification [12][13][14][15].…”

“…Nevertheless, theoreticians continue to explore possible applications of ion channeling through the nanotubes, beginning with those based on the angular distributions of channeled ions, e.g., for the purpose of deflecting ion beams in accelerators [6,7] or determining some structural details of the short nanotubes using the rainbow effect [8][9][10][11]. Besides, theoretical studies of the spatial distributions of channeled ions have demonstrated the possibility of creating nanosized ion beams, which could find interesting applications in biomedical research and for materials modification [12][13][14][15]. However, an additional application of ion channeling through the nanotubes based on the spatial distributions remains to be investigated in the context of extending the classical use of ion channeling for materials analysis [16] to the nanotube based materials.…”

“…While the image force has not been found to play any significant role in channels of single crystals [16], its role has been identified clearly in ion-surface scattering [20], and in ion transmission through capillaries in solids [21,22]. In addition, although the image force plays the minor roles in ion channeling through the nanotubes in the GeV and keV energy ranges [2,6,7,23], it has been shown to influence strongly ion trajectories in the MeV energy range. For example, the image force gives rise to the rainbow effect in angular distributions of protons channeled through the short chiral single-wall and double-wall nanotubes [24,25].…”