"Ion Accelerator-based research using the Louisiana Accelerator Center: a fantastic physics-based instrument"

Colloquium

Harry J. Whitlow

Louisiana Accelerator Center and Department of Physics University of Louisiana at Lafayette

The Louisiana Accelerator Center (LAC) is a University Center within the University of Louisiana at Lafayette that operates a 1.7-MV Pelletron Accelerator facility, which focuses on materials research. The first part of the presentation will set the stage by presenting the basic physics underlying the interaction of energetic ions with matter. These are essentially all based on binary scattering and it will be shown how these microscopic processes relate to measurable macroscopic effects.

Subsequently, the application of MeV ions to the characterisation of materials will be con- sidered. This will feature work using the MeV ion microprobe which allows two-dimensional maps of trace elements to be made. This will be illustrated by ongoing work using the LAC accelerator in conjunction with synchrotron light studies on mercury loss and setting reactions in dental amalgams and studies of chondrite meteorites. The LAC accelerator can also be used to introduce microscopic structural modifications of materials. This will be illustrated in an ongoing collaboration with CAMD on some remarkable effects of energetic ions in Teflon group polymers. For the analysis of thin films, measurements of elemental concentrations at different depths using Rutherford backscattering analysis, and different methods of elastic recoil detection analysis for measuring hydrogen and heavier elements, that are going be used in a collaboration with LSU to characterize targets for fundamental nuclear physics studies. If time permits, other ongoing research activities at the LAC will be presented.

This colloquium is directed towards alerting researchers and students to the possibilities of using ion accelerators in a broad range of research and therefore pitched for a general audience of scientists.