NSF Award
0078468
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project will develop and demonstrate<br/>a laboratory prototype of the Advanced Positron Beam Source (APBS) that will<br/>provide a high quality pulsed positron beam suitable for a range of analytical<br/>instruments for materials science. The project extends the latest developments<br/>in techniques to accumulate positrons from a radioactive source in Penning traps.<br/>The technical objectives of the Phase I project were fully achieved. The technical<br/>objectives of Phase II are: (1) to develop a compact, low-cost, two-stage positron<br/>trap; (2) to develop an advanced cryogenic positron moderator system; (3) to<br/>develop a high- performance positron buncher; (4) to refine the Phase I approach<br/>for extracting positrons from the magnetic field of the trap; and (5) to assemble<br/>and demonstrate the APBS system. If successful, this project will provide the<br/>basis for commercialization of the APBS in Phase III. <br/>A major obstacle to the commercial exploitation of positron-based surface analytical techniques<br/>has been the lack of a suitable slow positron beam source. The APBS will fill this need<br/>by providing a compact, low-cost, user-friendly positron beam source that can<br/>function ultimately as a turnkey system in an industrial environment. The APBS<br/>will have advanced performance characteristics that are not available from any<br/>other system.
