When completed, the DARHT-II linear induction accelerator (LIA) will produce a 2-kA, 17-MeV electron beam in a 1600-ns flat-top pulse. In initial tests, DARHT-II accelerated beams with current pulse lengths from 500 to 1200 ns full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) with more than 1.2-kA, 12.5-MeV peak current and energy. Experiments have now been done with a 1600-ns pulse length. These pulse lengths are all significantly longer than any other multimegaelectronvolt LIA, and they define a novel regime for high-current beam dynamics, especially with regard to beam stability. Although the initial tests demonstrated insignificant beam-breakup instability (BBU), the pulse length was too short to determine whether ion-hose instability would be present toward the end of a long, 1600-ns pulse. The 1600-ns pulse experiments reported here resolved these issues for the long-pulse DARHT-II LIA.

We have developed a simple, highly sensitive and specific optical waveguide sensor for the detection of multivalent proteins. The optical biosensor is based on optically tagged glycolipid receptors embedded within a fluid phospholipid bilayer membrane formed upon the surface of a planar optical waveguide. Binding of multivalent cholera toxin triggers a fluorescence resonance energy transfer that results in a two-color optical change that is monitored by measurement of emitted luminescence above the waveguide surface. The sensor approach is highly sensitive and specific and requires no additional reagents and washing steps. Demonstration of protein-receptor recognition by use of planar optical waveguides provides a path forward for the development of fieldable miniaturized biosensor arrays.

The second axis of the dual-axis radiography of hydrodynamic testing (DARHT) facility produces up to four radiographs within an interval of 1:6 s. It does this by slicing four micropulses out of a 2-s long electron beam pulse and focusing them onto a bremsstrahlung converter target. The 1.8-kA beam pulse is created by a dispenser cathode diode and accelerated to more than 16 MeV by the unique DARHT Axis-II linear induction accelerator (LIA). Beam motion in the accelerator would be a problem for multipulse flash radiography. High-frequency motion, such as from beam-breakup (BBU) instability, would blur the individual spots. Low-frequency motion, such as produced by pulsed-power variation, would produce spot-to-spot differences. In this article, we describe these sources of beam motion, and the measures we have taken to minimize it. Using the methods discussed, we have reduced beam motion at the accelerator exit to less than 2% of the beam envelope radius for the high-frequency BBU, and less than 1=3 of the envelope radius for the low-frequency sweep.

We report on the development of a diagnostic to provide constraints on the size of particles ejected from shocked metallic surfaces. The diagnostic is based on measurements of the intensity of laser light transmitted through a cloud of ejected particles as well as the angular distribution of scattered light, and the analysis of the resulting data is done using the Mie solution. We describe static experiments to test our experimental apparatus and present initial results of dynamic experiments on Sn targets. Improvements for future experiments are briefly discussed. V C 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.