Once the realm of science fiction shows like Star Trek, the positron beam now has the potential to become a functional device for scientific purposes. North Carolina State University announced this week that it had broken a record for low-energy positron beam strength.
A team of researchers at North Carolina State University, the University of Michigan and Oak Ridge National Laboratory announced the construction of the most powerful beam of positrons ever recorded. Dr. Ayman Hawari, associate professor of nuclear engineering and director of the Nuclear Reactor Program at NC State reports that the measurements of the positron beam rate created using the universities PULSTAR nuclear reactor shows a beam rate of 5-6x108 positrons per second. Positrons are the antiparticle of electrons and are generated in the intense radiation at the core of the PULSTAR nuclear reactor.
Dr. Hawari told NC University Engineering News, “These numbers are two orders of magnitude higher than those available using regular lab sources and exceed intensities currently reported by other international facilities.”
Researchers plan to put the newly created positron beam to work improving the ability to measure the porosity of a material. The beam will be used in Positron Annihilation Lifetime Spectrometry (PALS) and Doppler Broadening Spectrometry (DBS).
The PULSTAR reactor that made the positron beam possible has been operational since 1972 and is a 1-MW pool-type research reactor that uses 4% enriched pin-type fuel of uranium dioxide with a zircaloy cladding.
The previous positron beam strength record was held by a team using a reactor based in Munich, Germany.
