Alessandro Dallocchio

Status and operation of the Linac4 ion source prototypes.

CERNs Linac4 45 kV H(-) ion sources prototypes are installed at a dedicated ion source test stand and in the Linac4 tunnel. The operation of the pulsed hydrogen injection, RF sustained plasma, and pulsed high voltages are described. The first experimental results of two prototypes relying on 2 MHz RF-plasma heating are presented. The plasma is ignited via capacitive coupling, and sustained by inductive coupling. The light emitted from the plasma is collected by viewports pointing to the plasma chamber wall in the middle of the RF solenoid and to the plasma chamber axis. Preliminary measurements of optical emission spectroscopy and photometry of the plasma have been performed. The design of a cesiated ion source is presented. The volume source has produced a 45 keV H(-) beam of 16-22 mA which has successfully been used for the commissioning of the Low Energy Beam Transport (LEBT), Radio Frequency Quadrupole (RFQ) accelerator, and chopper of Linac4.

H- Ion Sources For CERN’s Linac4

The specifications set to the Linac4 ion source are: H− ion pulses of 0.5 ms duration, 80 mA intensity and 45 keV energy within a normalized emittance of 0.25 mmmrad RMS at a repetition rate of 2 Hz. In 2010, during the commissioning of a prototype based on H− production from the plasma volume, it was observed that the powerful co-extracted electron beam inherent to this type of ion source could destroy its electron beam dump well before reaching nominal parameters. However, the same source was able to provide 80 mA of protons mixed with a small fraction of H2+ and H3+ molecular ions. The commissioning of the radio frequency quadrupole accelerator (RFQ), beam chopper and H− beam diagnostics of the Linac4 are scheduled for 2012 and its final installation in the underground building is to start in 2013. Therefore, a crash program was launched in 2010 and reviewed in 2011 aiming at keeping the original Linac4 schedule with the following deliverables: Design and production of a volume ion source prototype sui...

Mechanical Design for Robustness of the LHC Collimators

The functional specification of the LHC Collimators requires, for the start-up of the machine and the initial luminosity runs (Phase 1), a collimation system with maximum robustness against abnormal beam operating conditions. The most severe cases to be considered in the mechanical design are the asynchronous beam dump at 7TeV and the 450GeV injection error. To ensure that the collimator jaws survive such accident scenarios, low-Z materials were chosen, driving the design towards Graphite or Carbon reinforced Carbon composites. Furthermore, in-depth thermo-mechanical simulations, both static and dynamic, were necessary. This paper presents the results of the numerical analyses performed for the 450GeV accident case, along with the experimental results of the tests conducted on a collimator prototype in CERN TT40 transfer line, impacted by a 450GeV beam of 3.2e13 protons, with impact transverse offsets from 1 to 5 mm.

Linac4 H⁻ ion sources.

CERNs 160 MeV H(-) linear accelerator (Linac4) is a key constituent of the injector chain upgrade of the Large Hadron Collider that is being installed and commissioned. A cesiated surface ion source prototype is being tested and has delivered a beam intensity of 45 mA within an emittance of 0.3 π ⋅ mm ⋅ mrad. The optimum ratio of the co-extracted electron- to ion-current is below 1 and the best production efficiency, defined as the ratio of the beam current to the 2 MHz RF-power transmitted to the plasma, reached 1.1 mA/kW. The H(-) source prototype and the first tests of the new ion source optics, electron-dump, and front end developed to minimize the beam emittance are presented. A temperature regulated magnetron H(-) source developed by the Brookhaven National Laboratory was built at CERN. The first tests of the magnetron operated at 0.8 Hz repetition rate are described.

LIMITS FOR BEAM INDUCED DAMAGE: RECKLESS OR TOO CAUTIOUS?

Accidental events implying direct beam impacts on collimators are of the utmost importance as they may lead to serious limitations of the overall LHC Performance. In order to assess damage threshold of components impacted by high energy density beams, entailing changes of phase and extreme pressures, state-of-the-art numerical simulation methods are required. In this paper, a review of the different dynamic response regimes induced by particle beams is given along with an indication of the most suited tools to treat each regime. Particular attention is paid to the most critical case, that of shock waves, for which standard Finite Element codes are totally unfit. A novel category of numerical tools, named Hydrocodes, has been adapted and used to analyse the consequences of an asynchronous beam abort on Phase 1 Tertiary Collimators (TCT). A number of simulations has been carried out with varying beam energy, number of bunches and bunch sizes allowing to identify different damage levels for the TCT up to catastrophic failure.

CERN’s Linac4 H− sources: Status and operational results

Two volume sources equipped with DESY and CERN plasma generators and a low voltage electron dump were operated at 45 kV in the Linac4 tunnel and on a dedicated test stand. These volume sources delivered approximately 20 mA and ensured the commissioning of the Radio Frequency Quadrupole accelerator and of the first section of the Drift Tube Linac. CERN’s prototype of a cesiated surface source equipped with this electron dump was operated continuously from November 2013 to April 2014 on the ion source test stand and is being commissioned in the Linac4 tunnel. Before cesiation, the prototype conditioned in volume mode provided up to 30 mA H− beam. Short cesiations, of the order of 10 mg effectively reduced the intensity of co-extracted electrons down to 2 - 8 times the H− current; this cesiated surface operation mode delivered up to 60 mA H− beam. An H− beam of the order of 40 mA was sustained up to four weeks operation with 500 μs pulses at 1.2s spacing. A new extraction was designed to match these beam pro...

Dynamic Response of Rapidly Heated Cylindrical Rods: Longitudinal and Flexural Behavior

A very fast temperature increase, produced by a nonuniform heat generation, induces in a simply supported, isotropic, cylindrical rod both longitudinal and flexural vibrations. This paper presents an analytical method to study these vibrations and determine the stresses they provoke. The proposed procedure relies on three main steps: an exact solution for the temperature field is first obtained, by means of Fourier-Bessel expansions; quasistatic thermal stresses are then computed as a function of the calculated temperature distribution, making use of the thermoelastic displacement potential and of the solution to the equivalent isothermal two-dimensional stress problem; finally, longitudinal and flexural vibrations excited by an equivalent thermal force and thermal bending moment are determined using the mode-summation method. The influence of thermal shock duration on the maximum value of the longitudinal dynamic stress and of the ratio between the characteristic thermal time and structural response time on the dynamic bending deflection is analyzed and discussed. Finally, a comparison between the analytical model and experimental measurements is presented. The analytical model described in this paper allows the complete evaluation, within the linear elastic domain, of quasi-static and dynamic thermal stresses induced in an isotropic cylindrical rod by rapid internal heating.

Thermo-Mechanical Modelling of High Energy Particle Beam Impacts

The unprecedented energy intensities of modern hadron accelerators yield special problems with the materials that are placed close to or into the high intensity beams. The energy stored in LHC in a single beam is equivalent to about 80 kg of TNT explosive, stored in a transverse beam area of 0.2 mm × 0.2 mm. The materials placed close to the beam are used at, or even beyond, their damage limits. However, it is very difficult to predict structural efficiency and robustness accurately: beam-induced damage occurs in a regime where practical experience does not exist. This study is performed in order to estimate the damage on a copper component due to the impact with a 7 TeV proton beam generated by LHC. The case study represents an accidental case consequent to an abnormal release of the beam, in which 8 bunches irradiate the target directly. The energy delivered on the component is calculated using the FLUKA code and then used as input in the numerical simulations, that are carried out via the FEM code LS-DYNA. Different numerical models are realized trying to obtain the simplest model able to correctly describe the material response without affecting the goodness of the results.

Shock Loads Induced on Metal Structures by LHC Proton Beams: Modelling of Thermo-Mechanical Effects

In this work, the numerical simulations of the LHC high energy particle beam impact against a metal structure are performed using the commercial FEM code LS-DYNA. The evaluation of thermal loads on the hit material is performed using a statistical code, called FLUKA, based on the Monte-Carlo method, which returns an energy map on a particular geometry (taking into account all the particles in the cascade generated by the interaction between the proton beam and the target). The FLUKA results are then used as input for thermo-structural studies. The first step of this work is the validation of the numerical procedure on a simple geometry for two different materials (copper and tungsten) and constitutive material models. In particular, the high energy particle impact is examined on a facially irradiated cylindrical bar: the beam hits the component directly on the centre of the basis. Then the final step is the study of the impact on a real structure with an energy beam of 5 TeV (the next target in the energy value of LHC beam).

Damage evaluation in metal structures subjected to high energy deposition due to particle beams

The unprecedented energy intensities of modern hadron accelerators yield special problems with the materials that are placed close to or into the high intensity beams. The energy stored in a single beam of LHC particle accelerator is equivalent to about 80 kg of TNT explosive, stored in a transverse beam area with a typical value of 0.2 mm×0.2 mm. The materials placed close to the beam are used at, or even beyond, their damage limits. However, it is very difficult to predict structural efficiency and robustness accurately: beam-induced damage for high energy and high intensity occurs in a regime where practical experience does not exist. The interaction between high energy particle beams and metals induces a sudden non uniform temperature increase. This provokes a dynamic response of the structure entailing thermal stress waves and thermally induced vibrations or even the failure of the component. This study is performed in order to estimate the damage on a copper component due to the impact with a 7 TeV proton beam generated by LHC. The case study represents an accidental case consequent to an abnormal release of the beam: the energy delivered on the component is calculated using the FLUKA code and then used as input in the numerical simulations, that are carried out via the FEM code LS-DYNA.