The precise measurement of forces is one way to obtain deep insight into the fundamental interactions present in nature. In the context of neutral antimatter, the gravitational interaction is of high ...interest, potentially revealing new forces that violate the weak equivalence principle. Here we report on a successful extension of a tool from atom optics--the moiré deflectometer--for a measurement of the acceleration of slow antiprotons. The setup consists of two identical transmission gratings and a spatially resolving emulsion detector for antiproton annihilations. Absolute referencing of the observed antimatter pattern with a photon pattern experiencing no deflection allows the direct inference of forces present. The concept is also straightforwardly applicable to antihydrogen measurements as pursued by the AEgIS collaboration. The combination of these very different techniques from high energy and atomic physics opens a very promising route to the direct detection of the gravitational acceleration of neutral antimatter.
The need of a fs-scale pulsed, high repetition rate, X-ray source for time-resolved fine analysis of matter (spectroscopy and photon scattering) in the linear response regime is addressed by the ...conceptual design of a facility called MariX (Multi-disciplinary Advanced Research Infrastructure for the generation and application of X-rays) outperforming current X-ray sources for the declared scope. MariX is based on the original design of a two-pass two-way superconducting linear electron accelerator, equipped with an arc compressor, to be operated in CW mode (1 MHz). MariX provides FEL emission in the range 0.2–8 keV with 108 photons per pulse ideally suited for photoelectric effect and inelastic X-ray scattering experiments. The accelerator complex includes an early stage that supports an advanced inverse Compton source of very high-flux hard X-rays of energies up to 180 keV that is well adapted for large area radiological imaging, realizing a broad science programme and serving a multidisciplinary user community, covering fundamental science of matter and application to life sciences, including health at preclinical and clinical level.
•Dual-energy and K-edge subtraction imaging.•Rotational radiotherapy of breast cancer.•Phase-contrast imaging with coherence areas of about 10 μm.
MariX is a research infrastructure conceived for ...multi-disciplinary studies, based on a cutting-edge system of combined electron accelerators at the forefront of the world-wide scenario of X-ray sources. The generation of X-rays over a large photon energy range will be enabled by two unique X-ray sources: a Free Electron Laser and an inverse Compton source, called BriXS (Bright compact X-ray Source). The X-ray beam provided by BriXS is expected to have an average energy tunable in the range 20–180 keV and intensities between 1011 and 1013 photon/s within a relative bandwidth ΔE/E=1–10%. These characteristics, together with a very small source size (~20 μm) and a good transverse coherence, will enable a wide range of applications in the bio-medical field. An additional unique feature of BriXS will be the possibility to make a quick switch of the X-ray energy between two values for dual-energy and K-edge subtraction imaging. In this paper, the expected characteristics of BriXS will be presented, with a particular focus on the features of interest to its possible medical applications.
We describe a system designed to re-bunch positron pulses delivered by an accumulator supplied by a positron source and a Surko-trap. Positron pulses from the accumulator are magnetically guided in a ...0.085T field and are injected into a region free of magnetic fields through a μ-metal field terminator. Here positrons are temporally compressed, electrostatically guided and accelerated towards a porous silicon target for the production and emission of positronium into vacuum. Positrons are focused in a spot of less than 4mm FWTM in bunches of ∼8ns FWHM. Emission of positronium into the vacuum is shown by single shot positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy.
Laser pulse shaping for multi-bunches photoinjectors Villa, F.; Cialdi, S.; Anania, M.P. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
03/2014, Letnik:
740
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Multi-bunch electron linac operation is required in many applications, like plasma wake field acceleration, narrow band THz generation and two color FEL. We present a short review of laser techniques ...employed in multi-bunch photoinjectors and propose a new scheme based on spectral phase manipulation of the laser pulse. In conclusion we show some application of multi-bunches electron beams done at SPARC_ LAB.
Efficient two-step Positronium laser excitation to Rydberg levels Cialdi, S.; Boscolo, I.; Castelli, F. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section B, Beam interactions with materials and atoms,
07/2011, Letnik:
269, Številka:
13
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Antihydrogen production by charge exchange reaction between Positronium atoms and antiprotons requires efficient excitation of Positronium atoms up to high-
n levels (Rydberg levels). A two-step ...optical excitation, the first from ground to
n
=
3
and the second from this level to a Rydberg level, is proposed and a suitable laser system is discussed. The requirements on the energy and bandwidth of the excitation laser suggest the use of optical parametric generation technology for both wavelengths. The laser system is composed by two subsystems: one for the generation of 205
nm radiation and the other for the generation of 1670
nm radiation. We have separately developed and tested the laser sources and results are here presented.
Injector Design for the MariX-FEL Project Faillace, L.; Bacci, A.; Bosotti, A. ...
Journal of physics. Conference series,
07/2020, Letnik:
1596, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The MariX project (Multi-disciplinary Advanced Infra-structure for Research with X-rays) is a free electron laser (FEL) light source proposed by the INFN-Milan. It will produce highly coherent ...X-rays, in the range 0.2-8 keV, with ultra-short pulses (10-50 fs) and a repetition rate up to 1MHz. At the same time, MariX will host a compact monochromatic X-ray source, called BriXS (Bright and compact X-ray Source), by using an inverse-Compton scattering scheme, with energies up to 180 keV and a repetition rate of 100 MHz (continuous-wave CW operation) that will generate fluxes up to 1013 photons per second. In this paper, the Radio-Frequency (RF) and beam dynamics designs of the electron injector for the MariX-FEL project are presented. The choice of the main devices, such as the electron gun and the accelerating linear accelerators, as well as the main parameters for CW operation are discussed in detail.
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