Philip Adamson

The Fermilab Main Injector: high intensity operation and beam loss control

From 2005 through 2012, the Fermilab Main Injector provided intense beams of 120 GeV protons to produce neutrino beams and antiprotons. Hardware improvements in conjunction with improved diagnostics allowed the system to reach sustained operation at ~400 kW beam power. Transmission was very high except for beam lost at or near the 8 GeV injection energy where 95% beam transmission results in about 1.5 kW of beam loss. By minimizing and localizing loss, residual radiation levels fell while beam power was doubled. Lost beam was directed to either the collimation system or to the beam abort. Critical apertures were increased while improved instrumentation allowed optimal use of available apertures. We will summarize the improvements required to achieve high intensity, the impact of various loss control tools and the status and trends in residual radiation in the Main Injector.

Studies of beam properties and main injector loss control using collimators in teh Fermilab booster to main injector transfer line

High intensity operation of the Fermilab Main Injector has resulted in increased activation of machine components. Efforts to permit operation at high power include creation of collimation systems to localize losses away from locations which require maintenance. As a first step, a collimation system to remove halo from the incoming beam was installed in the Spring 2006 Facility Shutdown [1]. We report on commissioning studies and operational experience including observations of Booster beam properties, effects on Main Injector loss and activation, and operational results.

Status of the numi neutrino beam at fermilab

The NuMI beam at Fermilab produces a high-intensity neutrino beam for neutrino oscillation experiments. Since the start of 2005, NuMI has been delivering beam to the MINOS experiment. Greater than 2times10[20] 120 GeV protons have been delivered to the neutrino production target, with a peak power of 320 kW being achieved. This note reports on the status and operation of the beam and its technical components, including the target, horns, and instrumentation.