Design and operation of a proton microscope for radiography at 800 MeV

A high-magnification high-resolution option is desirable for the study of small-scale dynamic experiments at the LANSCE 800-MeV Proton Radiography Facility. Magnification is achievable by either repowering the existing imaging-lens quadrupoles, using new high-gradient quadrupoles, or some hybrid combination of the two. The large and complex parameter space of magnetic optics solutions was studied extensively with the 3rd order optics code MARYLIE. Some of the hybrid solutions achieve magnifications up to 150, but at the price of high chromatic aberrations. In the end, a design using only new high-gradient permanent-magnet quadrupoles was selected and built at the design parameters that minimized chromatic aberration per unit magnification. The design has a moderate magnification of 7.1 and 15.8 at the two existing image stations. First-beam commissioning results exceeded expectations. Image contrast is produced by multiple Coulomb scattering in the thin objects. Early experimental objectives are to optimize this contrast by collimator design and by adjusting the correlation in the illuminating beam, as well as to characterize the (quite high) resolution limits of the system.