No Arabic abstract
The wavelengths and energies of thermal and cold neutrons are ideally matched to the length and energy scales in the materials that underpin technologies of the present and future: ranging from semiconductors to magnetic devices, composites to biomaterials and polymers. The Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) will use an accelerator to produce the most intense beams of neutrons in the world when it is complete at the end of 2005. The project is being built by a collaboration of six U.S. Department of Energy laboratories. It will serve a diverse community of users drawn from academia, industry, and government labs with interests in condensed matter physics, chemistry, engineering materials, biology, and beyond.
A fast-switching, high-repetition-rate magnet and power supply have been developed for and operated at TRIUMF, to deliver a proton beam to the new ultracold neutron (UCN) facility. The facility possesses unique operational requirements: a time-averaged beam current of 40~$mu$A with the ability to switch the beam on or off for several minutes. These requirements are in conflict with the typical operation mode of the TRIUMF cyclotron which delivers nearly continuous beam to multiple users. To enable the creation of the UCN facility, a beam-sharing arrangement with another facility was made. The beam sharing is accomplished by the fast-switching (kicker) magnet which is ramped in 50~$mu$s to a current of 193~A, held there for approximately 1~ms, then ramped down in the same short period of time. This achieves a 12~mrad deflection which is sufficient to switch the proton beam between the two facilities. The kicker magnet relies on a high-current, low-inductance coil connected to a fast-switching power supply that is based on insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs). The design and performance of the kicker magnet system and initial beam delivery results are reported.
This lecture is an introduction to the design of a spallation neutron source and other high intensity proton sources. It discusses two different approaches: linac-based and synchrotron-based. The requirements and design concepts of each approach are presented. The advantages and disadvantages are compared. A brief review of existing machines and those under construction and proposed is also given. An R&D program is included in an appendix.
The fast extraction kicker system is one of the most important accelerator components, whose inner structure will be the main source of the impedance in the RCS. It is necessary to understand the kicker impedance before its installation into the tunnel. The conventional and improved wire methods are employed for the benchmarking impedance measurement results. The simulation and measurements confirm that the window-frame ferrite geometry and the end plate are the important structures causing the coupling impedance. The total impedance of the eight modules systems is determined by the scaling law from the measurement and the impedance measurement of the kicker system is summarized.
The materials engineering data base relevant to fusion irradiation is poorly populated and it has long been recognized that a fusion spectrum neutron source will be required, the facility IFMIF being the present proposal. Re- evaluation of the regulatory approach for the EU proposed DEMO device shows that the purpose of the source can be changed from lifetime equivalent irradiation exposure to data generation at lower levels of exposure by adopting a defence in depth strategy and regular component surveillance. This reduces the specification of the source with respect to IFMIF allowing lower risk technology solutions to be considered. A description of such a source, the Facility for Fusion Neutron Irradiation Research, FAFNIR, is presented here along with project timescales and costs.
The primary goal of the COHERENT collaboration is to measure and study coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEvNS) using the high-power, few-tens-of-MeV, pulsed source of neutrinos provided by the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The COHERENT collaboration reported the first detection of CEvNS [Akimov:2017ade] using a CsI[Na] detector. At present the collaboration is deploying four detector technologies: a CsI[Na] scintillating crystal, p-type point-contact germanium detectors, single-phase liquid argon, and NaI[Tl] crystals. All detectors are located in the neutron-quiet basement of the SNS target building at distances 20-30 m from the SNS neutrino source. The simultaneous measurement in all four COHERENT detector subsystems will test the $N^2$ dependence of the cross section and search for new physics. In addition, COHERENT is measuring neutrino-induced neutrons from charged- and neutral-current neutrino interactions on nuclei in shielding materials, which represent a non-negligible background for CEvNS as well as being of intrinsic interest. The Collaboration is planning as well to look for charged-current interactions of relevance to supernova and weak-interaction physics. This document describes concisely the COHERENT physics motivations, sensitivity, and next plans for measurements at the SNS to be accomplished on a few-year timescale.