Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T18:43:11.191Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The ANSTO Isotope Cycling System

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2016

G C Watt ,
S Boronkay ,
A M Smith  and
M A C Hotchkis
G C Watt*
Affiliation:
Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Lucas Heights 2234, NSW, Australia
S Boronkay
Affiliation:
Balaton Technologies, PO Box 368, Rose Bay 2029, NSW, Australia
A M Smith
Affiliation:
Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Lucas Heights 2234, NSW, Australia
M A C Hotchkis
Affiliation:
Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Lucas Heights 2234, NSW, Australia
*
2Corresponding author. Email: [email protected].
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A number of electronic systems are used on the ANTARES accelerator at ANSTO to implement its fast cycling accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) capability. The fast cycling system was originally installed and commissioned in 1993 and has recently been updated. This paper describes the more significant of the electronic systems, such as the controller (“sequencer”), the high-voltage power supply (“bouncer”), the fast electrostatic beam chopper, and those used for measurement of the pulsed ion beam current. The sequencer, a programmable 15-bit digital pulse generator, generates the timing and sequencing of the control signals for bouncing voltage selection, beam chopping, Faraday cup current measurement, and rare isotope event measurement. The new sequencer is implemented using a National Instruments FPGA (field programmable gate array) card, programmed using LabVIEW 2010. This device has the benefits of host CPU-independent operation, simple interfacing (PCI), a small footprint, off-the-shelf availability at modest cost, and ease of functionality upgrade. The sequencer provides 15 synchronous digital signals, whose “on” and “off” transitions can be independently specified, in both number and time, with a time resolution of between 0.5 and 128 μs, and with the total duration between repetitions adjustable between 65.5 ms and 8.4 s per cycle. It is hosted by a generic PC because of the low-cost and ubiquity of these. The stand-alone FPGA-based approach ensures that the sequencer determinism is unaffected by processes executing in the host CPU.

Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 55 , Issue 2: Proceedings of the 21st International Radiocarbon Conference (Part 1 of 2) , 2013 , pp. 308 - 318
Copyright
Copyright © 2013 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Hotchkis, MAC, Child, DP, Zorko, B. 2010. Actinides AMS for nuclear safeguards and related applications. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 268(7–8):1257–60.Google Scholar
Litherland, AE, Kilius, LR. 1990. A recombinator for radiocarbon accelerator mass spectrometry. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 52(3–4):375–7.Google Scholar
Smith, AM, Fink, D, Hotchkis, MAC, Jacobsen, GE, Lawson, EM, Shying, M, Tuniz, C, Watt, GC, Fallon, J, Ellis, PJ. 1994. Equipment and methodology for high precision high throughput 14C AMS analyses at ANTARES. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 92(1–4):122–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Suter, M, Balzer, R, Bonani, G, Nessi, M, Stoller, C, Woelfli, W, Andree, M, Beer, J, Oeschger, H. 1983. Precision measurements of rare radioisotopes with a tandem Van de Graaff accelerator. IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science 30(2):1528–31.Google Scholar
Zorko, B, Child, DP, Hotchkis, MAC. 2010. A fast switching electrostatic deflector system for actinide isotopic ratio measurements. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 268(7–8):827–9.Google Scholar