Search

The EuPRAXIA EU project is at the forefront of advancing particle accelerator research and the development of photon sources through innovative plasma acceleration approaches. Within this framework, the EuAPS project aims to exploit laser wakefield acceleration to build and operate a betatron radiation source at the INFN Frascati National Laboratory. The EuAPS source will provide femtosecond X-ray pulses in the spectral region between about 1 and 10 keV, unlocking a realm of experimental ultrafast methodologies encompassing diverse imaging and X-ray spectroscopy techniques. This paper presents a description of the EuAPS betatron source, including simulations of the photon beam parameters, outlines the preliminary design of the dedicated photon beamline, and provides an insightful overview of its photon science applications.

The EuPRAXIA EU project is at the forefront of advancing particle accelerator research and the development of photon sources through innovative plasma acceleration approaches. Within this framework, the EuAPS project aims to exploit laser wakefield acceleration to build and operate a betatron radiation source at the INFN Frascati National Laboratory. The EuAPS source will provide femtosecond X-ray pulses in the spectral region between about 1 and 10 keV, unlocking a realm of experimental ultrafast methodologies encompassing diverse imaging and X-ray spectroscopy techniques. This paper presents a description of the EuAPS betatron source, including simulations of the photon beam parameters, outlines the preliminary design of the dedicated photon beamline, and provides an insightful overview of its photon science applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the scientific aims and potentials as well as the preliminary technical design of IRIDE, an innovative tool for multi-disciplinary investigations in a wide field of scientific, technological and industrial applications. IRIDE will be a high intensity "particles factory", based on a combination of high duty cycle radio-frequency superconducting electron linacs and of high energy lasers. Conceived to provide unique research possibilities for particle physics, for condensed matter physics, chemistry and material science, for structural biology and industrial applications, IRIDE will open completely new research possibilities and advance our knowledge in many branches of science and technology. IRIDE is also supposed to be realized in subsequent stages of development depending on the assigned priorities. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.

EuPRAXIA is a leading European project aimed at the development of a dedicated, ground-breaking, ultra-compact accelerator research infrastructure based on novel plasma acceleration concepts and laser technology and on the development of their users’ communities. Within this framework, the Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati (LNF, INFN) will be equipped with a unique combination of an X-band RF LINAC generating high-brightness GeV-range electron beams, a 0.5 PW class laser system and the first fifth-generation free electron laser (FEL) source driven by a plasma-based accelerator, the EuPRAXIA@SPARC_LAB facility. Wiggler-like radiation emitted by electrons accelerated in plasma wakefields gives rise to brilliant, ultra-short X-ray pulses, called betatron radiation. Extensive studies have been performed at the FLAME laser facility at LNF, INFN, where betatron radiation was measured and characterized. The purpose of this paper is to describe the betatron spectrum emitted by particle wakefield acceleration at EuPRAXIA@SPARC_LAB and provide an overview of the foreseen applications of this specific source, thus helping to establish a future user community interested in (possibly coupled) FEL and betatron radiation experiments. In order to provide a quantitative estimate of the expected betatron spectrum and therefore to present suitable applications, we performed simple simulations to determine the spectrum of the betatron radiation emitted at EuPRAXIA@SPARC_LAB. With reference to experiments performed exploiting similar betatron sources, we highlight the opportunities offered by its brilliant femtosecond pulses for ultra-fast X-ray spectroscopy and imaging measurements, but also as an ancillary tool for designing and testing FEL instrumentation and experiments.

Detectors are a key feature of the contemporary scientific approach to cultural heritage (CH), both for diagnostics and conservation. INFN-CHNet is the network of the Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics that develops and applies new instrumentation for the study of CH. This process results in both optimized traditional state-of-the-art and highly innovative detection setups for spectrometric techniques. Examples of the former are X-rays, gamma-rays, visible-light and particles spectrometers tailored for CH applications, with optimized performances, reliability, weight, transportability, cost, absorbed power, and complementarity with other techniques. Regarding the latter, examples are ARDESIA, the array of detectors at the DAΦNE-Light facility, the MAXRS detection setup at the Riken-RAL muon beamline and the imaging facilities at the LENA Laboratory. Paths for next-generation instruments have been suggested, as in the case of the X-ray Superconductive Detectors and X-ray Microcalorimeter Spectrometers, allowing astonishing improvement in energy resolution. Many issues in CH can now be addressed thanks to scientific techniques exploiting the existing detectors, while many others are still to be addressed and require the development of new approaches and detectors.

Today, Formula 1 race cars are equipped with complex hybrid electric powertrains that display significant cross-couplings between the internal combustion engine and the electrical energy recovery system. Given that a large number of these phenomena are strongly engine-speed dependent, not only the energy management but also the gearshift strategy significantly influence the achievable lap time for a given fuel and battery budget. Therefore, in this paper we propose a detailed low-level mathematical model of the Formula 1 powertrain suited for numerical optimization, and solve the time-optimal control problem in a computationally efficient way. First, we describe the powertrain dynamics by means of first principle modeling approaches and neural network techniques, with a strong focus on the low-level actuation of the internal combustion engine and its coupling with the energy recovery system. Next, we relax the integer decision variable related to the gearbox by applying outer convexification and solve the resulting optimization problem. Our results show that the energy consumption budgets not only influence the fuel mass flow and electric boosting operation, but also the gearshift strategy and the low-level engine operation, e.g., the intake manifold pressure evolution, the air-to-fuel ratio or the turbine waste-gate position.

A proposal for building a Free Electron Laser, EuPRAXIA@SPARC_LAB, at the Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati, is at present under consideration. This FEL facility will provide a unique combination of a high brightness GeV-range electron beam generated in a X-band RF linac, a 0.5 PW-class laser system and the first FEL source driven by a plasma accelerator. The FEL will produce ultra-bright pulses, with up to 10 12 photons/pulse, femtosecond timescale and wavelength down to 3 nm, which lies in the so called “water window”. The experimental activity will be focused on the realization of a plasma driven short wavelength FEL able to provide high-quality photons for a user beamline. In this paper, we describe the main classes of experiments that will be performed at the facility, including coherent diffraction imaging, soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering and photofragmentation measurements. These techniques will allow studying a variety of samples, both biological and inorganic, providing information about their structure and dynamical behavior. In this context, the possibility of inducing changes in samples via pump pulses leading to the stimulation of chemical reactions or the generation of coherent excitations would tremendously benefit from pulses in the soft X-ray region. High power synchronized optical lasers and a TeraHertz radiation source will indeed be made available for THz and pump–probe experiments and a split-and-delay station will allow performing XUV-XUV pump–probe experiments.

X-ray Absorption Fine Structure Spectroscopy (XAFS) is a powerful technique to investigate the local atomic geometry and the chemical state of atoms in different types of materials, especially if lacking a long-range order, such as nanomaterials, liquids, amorphous and highly disordered systems, and polymers containing metallic atoms. The INFN-LNF DAΦNE-Light DXR1 beam line is mainly dedicated to soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy; it collects the radiation of a wiggler insertion device and covers the energy range from 0.9 to 3.0 keV or the range going from the K-edge of Na through to the K-edge of Cl. The characteristics of the beamline are reported here together with the XAFS spectra of reference compounds, in order to show some of the information achievable with this X-ray spectroscopy. Additionally, some examples of XAFS spectroscopy applications are also reported.