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We have proposed a compact scheme for generating high-density and high-energy positrons by irradiating different shaped targets with an ultra-intense laser pulse, using 2D particle-in-cell simulations and numerical analysis. Our simulations show that the Breit–Wheeler process dominates positron production during laser-target interaction when a laser with an intensity of 4 × 10 23 W cm − 2 is used. We obtain a positron beam with an energy of 2.5 GeV and a total number exceeding 109, which is an improvement by two orders of magnitude compared to previous work with the same laser intensity. By using different shaped targets, we are able to generate a high-energy positron beam with low divergence. The yield of positron pairs depends on both the target and the laser parameters, and we have investigated how the shape of the target can enhance pair production and reduce divergence. Both of our analytical and simulation results demonstrate that this high-flux and low-divergence positron beam has direct applications in the field of medical and astro-physics that can be explored in the upcoming high intensity laser facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a positron acceleration scheme in which a laser-driven positron beam is injected into a solid target hit by a laser beam and accelerated in the sheath field on the target back side. The positron beam injection and acceleration in the target have been investigated with numerical simulation. The feasibility of such an acceleration scheme was proved according to the simulation results, which show that a 10 MeV positron beam can be accelerated up to 30 MeV. The dependency of the positron beam properties on the positron injection location, injection time, and target thickness was studied. Related acceleration details were obtained and analyzed. The acceleration scheme provides a method in positron energy controlling and its related applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid progress that plasma wakefield accelerators are experiencing is now posing the question as to whether they could be included in the design of the next generation of high-energy electron-positron colliders. However, the typical structure of the accelerating wakefields presents challenging complications for positron acceleration. Despite seminal proof-of-principle experiments and theoretical proposals, experimental research in plasma-based acceleration of positrons is currently limited by the scarcity of positron beams suitable to seed a plasma accelerator. Here, we report on the first experimental demonstration of a laser-driven source of ultra-relativistic positrons with sufficient spectral and spatial quality to be injected in a plasma accelerator. Our results indicate, in agreement with numerical simulations, selection and transport of positron beamlets containing N e + ≥ 10 5 positrons in a 5% bandwidth around 600 MeV, with femtosecond-scale duration and micron-scale normalised emittance. Particle-in-cell simulations show that positron beams of this kind can be guided and accelerated in a laser-driven plasma accelerator, with favourable scalings to further increase overall charge and energy using PW-scale lasers. The results presented here demonstrate the possibility of performing experimental studies of positron acceleration in a laser-driven wakefield accelerator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Particle beams focused to micrometer-sized spots play a crucial role in forefront research using low-energy positrons. Their expedient and wide application, however, requires highly-resolved, fast beam diagnostics. We have developed two different methods to modify a commercial imaging sensor to make it sensitive to low-energy positrons. The first method consists in removing the micro-lens array and Bayer filter from the sensor surface and depositing a phosphor layer in their place. This procedure results in a detector capable of imaging positron beams with energies down to a few tens of eV, or an intensity as low as 35 e + / s/mm 2 when the beam energy exceeds 10 keV . The second approach omits the phosphor deposition; with the resulting device we succeeded in detecting single positrons with energies upwards of 6 keV and efficiency up to 93%. The achieved spatial resolution of 0.97 μ m is unprecedented for real-time positron detectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spin-polarized positron beams have widely been utilized in applications ranging from fundamental physical studies to material processing. Preparing highly polarized positron beams for accurate probing is a long-standing issue. Here, we put forward a method to produce ultra-relativistic polarized positrons with unprecedented purity in a femtosecond timescale employing a few-PW circularly polarized laser pulse. The fully spin-resolved QED Monte Carlo method is used for simulating the two successive QED processes during the interaction, i.e., nonlinear Compton scattering and nonlinear Breit–Wheeler pair production. As the photons emitted in a circularly polarized laser field are symmetrically polarized, the polarization of the intermediate gamma photon beam averages out to zero, which is advantageous for improving the polarization of positrons. Meanwhile, the moderate laser intensity suppresses the depolarization of the new-born positrons induced by radiation reaction effect. As a result, the polarization of the positrons can reach up to ≳ 90%, the highest among the laser-driven polarization schemes conceived hitherto. Furthermore, our method relaxes the requirement on laser intensity to few-PW level, offering a promising way of preparing polarized positrons with current-generation laser facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Preserving the quality of a positron beam in a plasma-based accelerator, where a wakefield suitable for positron transport and acceleration is generated by means of an electron filament, is challenging. This is due to the nature of the wakefields, characterized by focusing fields that vary nonlinearly in the transverse direction, and by accelerating fields that are non-uniform. These fields also change slice-by-slice along the beam. Maintaining a high beam quality is pivotal for application of positron beams in a plasma-based collider. In this paper, we show that an initial background plasma temperature can help mitigate the positron beam quality degradation in plasma-based accelerators that rely on electron filaments. We show that temperature effects broaden the electron filament and smooth radially both the non-linear transverse and the non-uniform longitudinal wakefields. Using warm plasmas opens up new possibilities to improve beam quality in several plasma-based positron acceleration concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

KDP and ADP crystals doped with different concentrations of Fe3+ ions were grown by the "point seed" technique and some KDP crystal samples were annealed. Positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy and slow positron beam technique were applied to investigate the types and distributions of the defects with different states of charges for KDP and ADP crystals. It was found that the quality of the prismatic sector was better than that of the pyramidal sector, although Fe3+ was mainly enriched in the prismatic sector. The types and content of defects in the pyramidal sector were relatively larger. ADP crystals showed better structural stability, with fewer defects than KDP crystals. This might be one of the reasons for the higher damage threshold of ADP crystals. The results also indicated that thermal annealing could decompose large-size defects into small-size ones to improve KDP crystal quality. However, it could not reduce the influence of Fe3+, such as causing light absorption at 220–300 nm. In addition, the Raman spectroscopy, Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy, and ultraviolet absorption spectroscopy were implemented to illustrate the change in the structure and properties after doping in KDP crystals. Notably, this work focused on the types and distributions of microscopic defects, which would be significant for the crystal growth and quality improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The feasibility of gamma-ray light sources based on the channeling phenomenon of ultrarelativistic electrons and positrons in oriented crystals that are periodically bent with Small Amplitude and Short Period (SASP) is demonstrated by means of rigorous numerical modeling that accounts for the interaction of a projectile with all atoms of the crystalline environment. Numerical data on the spectral distribution, brilliance, number of photons and power of radiation emitted by 10 GeV electron and positron beams passing through diamond, silicon and germanium crystals are presented and analyzed. The case studies presented in the paper refer to the FACET-II beams available at the SLAC facility. It is shown that the SASP bending gives rise to the radiation enhancement in the GeV photon energy range where the peak brilliance of radiation can be as high as on the 1 0 24 photons/s/mrad 2 /mm 2 /0.1% BW. The parameters of radiation can be tuned by varying the amplitude and period of bending. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The model-potential approach previously developed by the authors to study positron interactions with molecules is used to calculate the positron binding energy for n-alkanes (CnH2n+2) and the corresponding cycloalkanes (CnH2n). For n-alkanes, the dependence of the binding energy on the conformation of the molecule is investigated, with more compact structures showing greater binding energies. As a result, thermally averaged binding energies for larger alkanes (n ≳ 9) show a strong temperature dependence in the range of 100 K–600 K. This suggests that positron resonant annihilation can be used as a probe of rotational (trans-gauche) isomerization of n-alkanes. In particular, the presence of different conformers leads to shifts and broadening of vibrational Feshbach resonances in the annihilation rate, as observed with a trap-based low-energy positron beam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The characterization of an electron–positron beam generated from the interaction of a multi-GeV electron beam with a lead plate is performed using GEANT4 simulations. The dependence of the positron beam size on driver electron beam energy and lead converter thickness is investigated in detail. A pancake-like positron beam structure is generated with a monoenergetic multi-GeV driver electron beam, with the results indicating that a 5 GeV driver electron beam with 1 nC charge can generate a positron beam with a density of 1015–1016 cm−3 at one radiation length of lead. In addition, we find that electron–positron beams generated using above-GeV electron beams have neutralities greater than 0.3 at one radiation length of lead, whereas neutralities of 0.2 are observed when using a 200 MeV electron beam. The possibility of observing plasma instabilities in experiments is also examined by comparing the plasma skin depth with the electron–positron beam size. A quasi-neutral electron–positron plasma can be produced in the interaction between a 1 nC, 5 GeV electron beam and lead with a thickness of five radiation lengths. Our findings will aid in analyzing and interpreting laser-produced electron–positron plasma for laboratory astrophysics research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, diamonds are widely used in science and technology. However, the properties of diamonds due to their defects are not fully understood. In addition to optical methods, positron annihilation spectroscopy (PAS) can be successfully used to study defects in diamonds. Positrons are capable of detecting vacancies, and small and large clusters of vacancies induced by irradiation, by providing information about their size, concentration, and chemical environment. By mapping in the infrared (IR) range, it is possible to consider the admixture composition of the main inclusions of the whole plate. This article presents the results of a study of defects in synthetic diamond plates, one of which was irradiated by electrons. It presents data about the distribution of the defect concentration obtained by Infrared spectroscopy. PAS with a monochromatic positron beam can be used as a non-destructive technique of detecting defects (vacancy) distribution over the depth of diamond plates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vacancy-type defects in GaN nanowires (NWs) and the trapping of electrons by the vacancies were studied by positron annihilation. Undoped, Si-, and Mg-doped GaN NWs were grown on Si substrates by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. The major species of vacancies in the undoped and Si-doped samples was identified as a complex between a Ga vacancy and impurities such as oxygen and hydrogen. For the Mg-doped samples, the trapping rate of positrons for such defects decreased with the increase in Mg concentration because of the downward shift of Fermi level position and a resultant shift of the vacancy charge states from neutral (negative) to positive. Under the illumination of a 325-nm He-Cd laser, positrons were found to be trapped by vacancy-type defects, which was attributed to the trapping of excited electrons by these defects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A design study has been performed for a positron beam with an energy of 500 MeV to be realized at the applied physics area of the Mainz Microtron MAMI. Positrons will be created after pair conversion of bremsstrahlung, produced by the 855 MeV electron beam at MAMI in a tungsten converter target. From the two conceivable geometries (1) pair conversion in the bremsstrahlung converter target itself, and (2) bremsstrahlung pair conversion in a separated lead foil, the former was considered in detail. Positrons will be energy selected within an outside open electron beam-line bending magnet, and bent back by an additional sector magnet. Magnetic focusing elements in between are designed to prepare in a well shielded positron target chamber about 6 m away from the target a beam with horizontal and vertical emittances of ϵ v = 0.055 π mm mrad (1 σ ), and ϵ h = 0.12 π mm mrad (1 σ ), respectively, for a 10 μ m thick amorphous tungsten target and negligible momentum spread. At an accepted positron band width of 1 MeV, spots are expected vertically with an angular spread of 0.064 mrad and a size of 5.0 mm (FWHM), and horizontally with an angular spread of 0.64 mrad and a size of 7.7 mm (FWHM). The positron yield amounts to 13.1 per second, 1 MeV positron energy band width, and 1 nA electron beam current. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plasma-based positron sources are attracting significant attention from the research community, thanks to their rather unique characteristics, which include broad energy tuneability and ultra-short duration, obtainable in a compact and relatively inexpensive setup. Here, we show a detailed numerical study of the positron beam characteristics obtainable at the dedicated user target areas proposed for the EuPRAXIA facility, the first plasma-based particle accelerator to be built as a user facility for applications. It will be shown that MeV-scale positron beams with unique properties for industrial and material science applications can be produced, alongside with GeV-scale positron beams suitable for fundamental science and accelerator physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The stability of plasma-based accelerators against transverse misalignments and asymmetries of the drive beam is crucial for their applicability. Without stabilizing mechanisms, even small initial offsets of the drive beam centroid can couple coherently to the plasma wake, grow, and ultimately lead to emittance degradation or beam loss for a trailing witness beam. In this work, we demonstrate the intrinsic stability of a beam propagating in a plasma column. This result is relevant in the context of plasma-based positron acceleration, where a wakefield suitable for the transport and acceleration of a positron witness beam is generated in a plasma column by means of an electron drive beam. The stable propagation of the drive beam is a necessary condition for the experimental implementation of this scheme. The differences and similarities of stabilizing mechanisms in a plasma column compared to a homogeneous plasma are identified via theory and particle-in-cell simulations. Experimental tolerances are given, demonstrating the experimental feasibility of the scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Generation of energetic electron-positron pairs using multi-petawatt (PW) lasers has recently attracted increasing interest. However, some previous laser-driven positron beams have severe limitations in terms of energy spread, beam duration, density, and collimation. Here we propose a scheme for the generation of dense ultra-short quasi-monoenergetic positron bunches by colliding a twisted laser pulse with a Gaussian laser pulse. In this scheme, abundant γ-photons are first generated via nonlinear Compton scattering and positrons are subsequently generated during the head-on collision of γ-photons with the Gaussian laser pulse. Due to the unique structure of the twisted laser pulse, the positrons are confined by the radial electric fields and experience phase-locked-acceleration by the longitudinal electric field. Three-dimensional simulations demonstrate the generation of dense sub-femtosecond quasi-monoenergetic GeV positron bunches with tens of picocoulomb (pC) charge and extremely high brilliance above 1014 s−1 mm−2 mrad−2 eV−1, making them promising for applications in laboratory physics and high energy physics. The advent of petawatt lasers has reignited interest in the generation of positrons, since they could provide enough energy for practical applications. Here, an all-optical method for the generation of short, energetic positron beams are described numerically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The positron source is one of the most important parts of the circular electron–positron collider (CEPC) linear accelerator. The design goal is to obtain a 3 nC bunch charge positron beam from a 4 GeV primary electron beam with an intensity of 10 nC/bunch. In this study, an all-solid-state, high-current pulse power system was developed to drive a flux concentrator to capture positrons by generating a magnetic field with a peak value of 6 T. Based on the inductive load topology circuit, the optimized parameters were designed to generate a pulse current with a high peak value and a high rise rate pulse current. In addition, a non-reverse voltage was realized to protect the solid-state switch components. For the characteristics of the long-distance transmission between the pulse power supply and the load in the system, the influences of the cable distribution parameters on the pulse were analyzed, and the design of the damping circuit was proposed to suppress the high-frequency ripples of the peak pulse current. An optimized coaxial discharge structure was designed to reduce the stray parameters in the main circuit. The design was verified through simulations and experiments, and the results demonstrated that the developed prototype successfully generated an ideal half-sinusoidal pulse current with a peak value of 15 kA, and a front pulsewidth of $2.5 ~\mu \text{s}$ at a repetition rate of 50 Hz. The pulse repetition stability is better than 0.1%. The final output was consistent with the theoretical analysis. The system can be applied in the CEPC positron source, which also provides a reference for the subsequent development of a positron source system at research facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work we report on the systematic characterization of a rare-gas moderated magnetically-transported continuous positron beam based on a 22Na radioactive source. The characterization was performed with three different rare-gas solid moderators: Ne, Ar, and Kr. Each moderator was deposited and then thermal annealed at temperature ∼ 35 % and ∼ 30 % lower than the melting point, respectively. Tests of moderation/magnetic transport efficiency of the apparatus have shown a maximum efficiency of 1.8 10-3, 2.0 10-3 and 0.6 10-3 for Ne, Ar, and Kr, respectively. The average longitudinal kinetic energy of positrons was found to be ∼ 0.95 eV, ∼1.25 eV, and ∼ 0.45 eV for Ne, Ar, and Kr moderator, respectively. The spin polarization measurement of moderated positrons was performed by using the Doppler broadening of the annihilation γ-rays from positronium formed in oxidized nanochanneled silicon positron/positronium converters. Polarization values of 0.30 ± 0.01, 0.29 ± 0.01 and 0.29 ± 0.01 were found for Ne, Ar, and Kr moderator, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For a long time the necessity of having intense positron beams to get a high rate of events with fixed targets as with e+e− collisions, led to conventional positron sources using high energy and high intensity electron beams generating bremsstrahlung photons in thick high Z targets. The inconveniences for such scheme, heat load and large emittance, are underlined. Alternative ways aiming to provide a high number of photons impinging on rather thin conversion targets have been developed: they are using magnetic undulators, laser Compton backscattering and channeling radiation in axially oriented crystals. A brief description of these methods is given. However, the emphasis is put here on the channeling radiation. The advantages of channeling radiation, described by M.Kumakhov and others, were confirmed by many simulations and experiments. We are reporting, hereafter, on two schemes: positron all-crystal converters involving thick crystals where photon radiation and e+e− pair creation are occurring in the crystal and hybrid sources where the two functions are separated. With the hybrid scheme, including a thin crystal-radiator and a thick amorphous-converter, the heat load and the local deposited energy density can be lowered. Simulations and experiments related to these two schemes are reported. Further developments concerning the converter, granular instead of bulk, are providing additional advantages. The promising, already gathered results led to consider these kinds of positron sources for future e-e+ colliders. More physicists, from different laboratories, concerned by the studies on positron sources are now contributing in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the study, using the Moliere, Firsov and Barrett approximations, the interaction potentials of positively charged particles channeled along the c-axes in hexagonal crystals such as Be, Mg, Sc, Ti, Co, Zn, Se, Y, Zr, Tc, Ru, Cd, Te, La are calculated at T = 300K. For the Co crystal, the Doyle – Turner approximation was additionally used. It is demonstrated that in these directions, sufficiently deep potential wells are formed. Using optimal approximation functions, energy levels and their corresponding wave functions are determined for channeled positrons with Lorentz-factors of 25, 50, 75. Using these data for positron beams with various angular dispersions, spontaneous radiation spectra are calculated for all the investigated hexagonal crystals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we simulated the distributions of positrons with different kinetic energies as a function of linear transverse and angular deflections from the electron beam axis and the exit time produced upon normal incidence of "needle-like" "instantaneous" electron beams with kinetic energies E– = 55, 220, 1000 MeV on optimal converter targets (at the exit from the converters). The calculation results are compared with the available published data and experimental requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the instrumentation of a new positron diffractometer that is connected to the high-intensity positron beam at the neutron induced positron source Munich. Crucial elements for the adaption of the positron beam are presented, which include the magnetic field termination, the optional transmission-type remoderator for brightness enhancement, and the electrostatic system for acceleration and beam optics. The positron trajectories of the remoderated and the twofold remoderated beam have been simulated to optimize the system, i.e., to obtain a coherent beam of small diameter. Within a first beamtime, we tuned the system and characterized the direct beam. For the twofold remoderated beam of 10 keV energy, we experimentally observe a beam diameter of d < 1.3 mm, which agrees well with the simulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Positron initiated deeply virtual Compton scattering (DVCS) off 4 He and 3 He nuclei is described. The way the so-called d - term could be obtained from the real part of the relevant Compton form factor is summarized, and the importance and novelty of this measurement is discussed. The measurements addressed for 3 He targets could be very useful even in a standard unpolarized target setup, measuring beam spin and beam charge asymmetries only. The unpolarized beam charge asymmetries for DVCS off 3 He and 4 He are also estimated, at JLab kinematics and, for 4 He, also at a configuration typical at the future Electron–Ion Collider. Incoherent DVCS processes, in particular the ones with tagging the internal target by measuring slow recoiling nuclei, and the unique possibility offered by positron beams for the investigation of Compton form factors of higher twist, are also briefly addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The CEPC includes a main ring and an injector. The injector consists of a booster and a linac. In order to meet the requirements of the booster, the baseline design of the linac is a 10 GeV electron and positron linac. Two alternative linac designs have also been introduced in this paper. For the linac baseline design, one-bunch-per-pulse is adopted. A 1.1 GeV damping ring is used to reduce the transverse emittance of positron beam. The main RF system of the linac adopts normal conducting S-band structure. Some key technologies of linac are development. The S-band structure and pulse compressor have been researched and studied. In the damping ring, two cavities used to provide 2 MV voltage. The preliminary cavity design has finished. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We discuss two complementary strategies to search for light dark matter (LDM) exploiting the positron beam possibly available in the future at Jefferson Laboratory. LDM is a new compelling hypothesis that identifies dark matter with new sub-GeV "hidden sector" states, neutral under standard model interactions and interacting with our world through a new force. Accelerator-based searches at the intensity frontier are uniquely suited to explore it. Thanks to the high intensity and the high energy of the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) beam, and relying on a novel LDM production mechanism via positron annihilation on target atomic electrons, the proposed strategies will allow us to explore new regions in the LDM parameters space, thoroughly probing the LDM hypothesis as well as more general hidden sector scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of multi-photon-exchange and other higher-order QED corrections on elastic electron-proton scattering have been a subject of high experimental and theoretical interest since the polarization transfer measurements of the proton electromagnetic form factor ratio G E p / G M p at large momentum transfer Q 2 conclusively established the strong decrease of this ratio with Q 2 for Q 2 ≳ 1 GeV 2 . This result is incompatible with previous extractions of this quantity from cross section measurements using the Rosenbluth Separation technique. Much experimental attention has been focused on extracting the two-photon exchange (TPE) effect through the unpolarized e + p / e - p cross section ratio, but polarization transfer in polarized elastic scattering can also reveal evidence of hard two-photon exchange. Furthermore, it has a different sensitivity to the generalized TPE form factors, meaning that measurements provide new information that cannot be gleaned from unpolarized scattering alone. Both ϵ -dependence of polarization transfer at fixed Q 2 , and deviations between electron-proton and positron-proton scattering are key signatures of hard TPE. A polarized positron beam at Jefferson Lab would present a unique opportunity to make the first measurement of positron polarization transfer, and comparison with electron-scattering data would place valuable constraints on hard TPE. Here, we propose a measurement program in Hall A that combines the Super BigBite Spectrometer for measuring recoil proton polarization, with a non-magnetic calorimetric detector for triggering on elastically scattered positrons. Though the reduced beam current of the positron beam will restrict the kinematic reach, this measurement will have very small systematic uncertainties, making it a clean probe of TPE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Systematic differences in the the proton's charge radius, as determined by ordinary atoms and muonic atoms, have caused a resurgence of interest in elastic lepton scattering measurements. The proton's charge radius, defined as the slope of the charge form factor at Q 2 = 0, does not depend on the probe. Any difference in the apparent size of the proton, when determined from ordinary versus muonic hydrogen, could point to new physics or need for the higher order corrections. While recent measurements seem to now be in agreement, there is to date no high precision elastic scattering data with both electrons and positrons. A high precision proton radius measurement could be performed in Hall B at Jefferson Lab with a positron beam and the calorimeter based setup of the PRad experiment. This measurement could also be extended to deuterons where a similar discrepancy has been observed between the muonic and electronic determination of deuteron charge radius. A new, high precision measurement with positrons, when viewed alongside electron scattering measurements and the forthcoming MUSE muon scattering measurement, could help provide new insights into the origins of the proton radius puzzle, and also provide new experimental constraints on radiative correction calculations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports a variable-energy slow positron beam characterisation of the surface oxide films in 310 S stainless steel and 800HT nickel-based alloy exposed to 550 °C supercritical water for 1000–4392 h. The evolution of the oxide layer was depth-profiled using positron beam energies from 0.5 to 20 keV, which enabled a probe of up to 2 mm of the near-surface region. SEM/EDS was used as a complementary characterisation tool to support and comprehend the positron annihilation spectroscopy data. A strong dependency on the positron trapping rate and the effective positron diffusion length on the microstructure of the studied materials enabled us to identify up to three non-bulk layers, which were preliminarily attributed to different oxide layers and Fe/Cr depletion regions. By calculating the effective positron diffusion length in the given multi-layer systems, we obtained the thicknesses of individual layers, which are in good agreement with the EDS analysis. [Display omitted] • Variable-energy slow positron beam surface oxide characterisation at SCW conditions. • Depth-profiled oxide layers up to 2 µm. • Approximate thicknesses of individual surface layers determination. • Presence of vacancy-type defects in this region provides oxygen diffusion routes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we report the characteristics of the generated beams, the extracted electron beam and the beam of secondary electrons/positrons, of the LPI accelerator complex Pakhra as of November 2019 for testing and calibrating detectors used in large accelerator and astrophysical experiments. At energies of 250–500 MeV of the electron beam ejected into Hall 1 from the S-25R synchrotron, its energy resolution is δ ~ 1% and the intensity can be changed by collimators in the range of 103–1010 s–1. The quasi-monochromatic beam of secondary electrons produced in Hall 2 typically has an energy in the range of 50–300 MeV, a corresponding energy resolution of δ = 14–2%, and an intensity of ~ 102 s–1. The performed simulation of the characteristics of the secondary positron beam allowed selecting the optimal geometry of the setup and showed good agreement with the experimental data obtained later. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Particle-in-cell simulations of jets of electrons and positrons in an ambient electron–proton plasma have revealed an acceleration of positrons at the expense of electron kinetic energy. We show that a filamentation instability, between an unmagnetized ambient electron–proton plasma at rest and a beam of pair plasma that moves through it at a non-relativistic speed, indeed results in preferential positron acceleration. Filaments form that are filled predominantly with particles with the same direction of their electric current vector. Positron filaments are separated by electromagnetic fields from beam electron filaments. Some particles can cross the field boundary and enter the filament of the other species. Positron filaments can neutralize their net charge by collecting the electrons of the ambient plasma, while protons cannot easily follow the beam electron filaments. Positron filaments can thus be compressed to a higher density and temperature than the beam electron filaments. Filament mergers, which take place after the exponential growth phase of the instability has ended, lead to an expansion of the beam electron filaments, which amplifies the magnetic field they generate and induces an electric field in this filament. Beam electrons lose a substantial fraction of their kinetic energy to the electric field. Some positrons in the beam electron filament are accelerated by the induced electric field to almost twice their initial speed. The simulations show that a weaker electric field is induced in the positron filament and particles in this filament hardly change their speed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A sealed positron source that can sufficiently reduce the backscattered component was fabricated using an aqueous 22 NaCl solution and a graphite backing material. The spin polarization of the emitted positrons was evaluated as 39%, which was 1.7 times higher than that of a commercial source with a heavy-metal backing material. This source increased the amplitude of the magnetic Doppler broadening spectrum for ferromagnetic iron. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compact short pulse positron source in the energy range of a few tens of MeV driven by laser plasma accelerator is a promising tool for many applications, such as materials science and source of colliders. A collection and transmission system based on laser plasma accelerators is proposed to intensify and narrow the beam divergence for positrons generated from converters. The system is composed of a converter, a collimator, a solenoid, quadrupoles, and a slit in the exit. Numerical simulations were performed to demonstrate the feasibility and robustness of the design. The designed system can work in the center energy range from 15 to 40 MeV within ±10% energy spread (FWHM) and greatly improve the quality of collected positron beams with a divergence of around 50 mrad. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Native defects in InxGa1-xN layers grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition were studied using monoenergetic positron beams. Measurements of Doppler broadening spectra of the annihilation radiation and lifetime spectra of positrons for a 200-nm-thick In0.13Ga0.87N layer showed that vacancy-type defects were introduced by InN alloying, and the major species of such defects was identified as complexes between a cation vacancy and nitrogen vacancies. The presence of the defects correlated with lattice relaxation of the In0.13Ga0.87N layer and the increase in photon emissions from donor-acceptor-pair recombination. The species of native defects in In0.06Ga0.94N layers was the same but its concentration was decreased by decreasing the InN composition. With the layer thickness increased from 120 nm to 360 nm, a defect-rich region was introduced in the subsurface region (<160 nm), which can be associated with layer growth with the relaxation of compressive stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report measurements of a terrestrial gamma ray flash (TGF) detected by the Fermi Gamma‐ray Burst Monitor that was produced during a negative cloud‐to‐ground (CG) lightning leader. This is the first report of a downward directed TGF occurring during a CG flash but detected by a space‐based instrument. The gamma ray photons are produced 3 ms preceding a return stroke (−146 kA) and are essentially simultaneous with an isolated low frequency radio pulse. Based on timing, the pulse is estimated to initiate at approximately 6 km altitude, and its polarity indicates downward moving negative charge, the opposite of regular satellite‐detected upward TGFs. A likely scenario is that the runaway electrons accelerate into the upper, positively charged end of the leader in a high field region, with the reverse positron beam generating upward gamma rays detectable from space. A search for similar waveform features indicates that this type of downward CG‐TGF may occur prior to 1% of high peak current CG strokes. Extrapolating gives a global rate of 5–10% of previously known TGFs and potentially a significant fraction of global TGFs. Key Points: A TGF detected by Fermi GBM occurred 3 ms before a −CG stroke during the descending negative leader, coincident with a 120 μs radio pulseThe radio pulse polarity indicates that it is likely a downward TGF produced at ~6 km altitude with a reverse positron beam detected by Fermi GBMThis type of downward CG‐TGF may occur prior to 1% of high‐intensity CG strokes, constituting 5–10% of the previously known TGF population [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The knowledge of elemental migration associated with angstrom-scale open spaces is a prerequisite for sophisticated material design with respect to nanodispersion as well as a better understanding of molecular migration in a geological environment. Here, we show the methodology for evaluating the diffusion coefficient of guest substances focusing on angstrom-scale open spaces, where the depth-variation of open spaces caused by elemental diffusion in the micrometer-scale surface region is examined by the variable-energy slow positron beam. The present methodology determines a low diffusion coefficient of ∼10−14 cm2 s−1 for potassium at 533 K in SiO2 glass within the framework of Fick's principle providing the evidence that ∼2.5 Å open spaces intrinsically present in the glass matrix govern the diffusion process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Counterstreaming electron beams drifting along the magnetic field in electron–proton plasmas may lead to the generation of electrostatic (ES) waves and structures widely observed in planetary magnetospheres. In electron–positron plasmas, streaming electron/positron beams along the background magnetic field may first result in ES waves followed by the electromagnetic (EM) waves with substantial magnetic field perturbations, as shown by Jao and Hau [Phys. Rev. E 98, 013203 (2018)]. In this study, we examine the formation of ES and EM waves driven by current free counterstreaming electron beams in electron–ion background plasmas and current free electron–positron beams in electron–proton–positron background plasmas based on one-dimensional EM particle-in-cell simulations with the drift velocity being along the background magnetic field. For the former cases, the effects of ion-to-electron mass ratios are examined, which have implications for two- and three-dimensional particle in cell simulations with reduced mass ratios. For the latter cases, the effects of positrons are examined, which have applications to astrophysical plasma environments and laboratory experiments. It is shown that the presence of positrons or light ions may shorten the occurrence times between the ES and EM waves driven by current free electron beam instability. The EM waves have relatively longer wavelengths as compared to the ES waves and the magnetic field evolution resembles parallel proton firehose instability. The effects of positrons, background compositions, and ion-to-electron mass ratios on the occurrence of ES and EM waves are consistent with the linear fluid theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We studied the propagation of small-amplitude dust ion acoustic (DIA) solitary waves in four-component relativistic plasma comprised of nonthermal electrons, mobile positively charged ions, positron beam and negatively charged massive dust particles. By using the reductive perturbation method, the Korteweg–de-Vries (KdV) nonlinear wave equation is derived numerically. In this work, we have elucidated the role of energetic positron beam in the relativistic plasma and analyzed the existence region for ion-acoustic (IA) solitary wave formation. It is found that for certain plasma parameters, the propagation of both compressive and rarefactive solitary waves is possible. Here, the injecting streaming positron beam in plasma gives rise to the increase in the phase velocity (Mach number) and reaches up to the hypersonic regime of flow velocity. It is observed that the initial increase in relativistic factor of positron beam , as well as temperature ratio of the positron beam to electrons decrease the characteristic features (the amplitude) of the compressive solitary wave potential profiles. On the other hand, on increasing dust grain charge , positron beam concentration ratio as well as nonthermal electrons concentration result in enhancement of the amplitudes of IA solitary wave potential profiles. The findings of this work can be more helpful in understanding the Earth's upper atmosphere (Aurora region of the ionosphere) as well as the space plasmas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

V/Ag nano-scaled multilayers were prepared by using a magnetron sputtering deposition method. Each layer of Ag and V has a thickness of about 6 nm, and the total thickness of the multilayer film is 350 nm. Doppler broadening of annihilation radiation was measured by using a slow positron beam to study the microstructure of the above samples. It was found that the Doppler broadening S and W parameters measured in the V/Ag multilayers were close to those measured in the Ag reference sample. Coincidence Doppler broadening measurements also showed that the electron momentum distributions in V/Ag multilayers and Ag monolayer were almost identical. This suggests that Ag has a strong affinity to positrons, and almost all the positrons ejected into the multilayers are confined to the Ag nanolayers. Theoretical calculations indicate that the positron wavefunction is well localized in the Ag nanolayer even for a layer thickness of only 1 nm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]