R. F. Welton

Ramping up the Spallation Neutron Source beam power with the H- source using 0 mg Cs/day.

This paper describes the ramp up of the beam power for the Spallation Neutron Source by ramping up the pulse length, the repetition rate, and the beam current emerging from the H(-) source. Starting out with low repetition rates (< or = 10 Hz) and short pulse lengths (< or = 0.2 ms), the H(-) source and low-energy beam transport delivered from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory exceeded the requirements with almost perfect availability. This paper discusses the modifications that were required to exceed 0.2 ms pulse length and 0.2% duty factor with acceptable availability and performance. Currently, the source is supporting neutron production at 1 MW with 38 mA linac beam current at 60 Hz and 0.9 ms pulse length. The pulse length will be increased to approximately 1.1 ms to meet the requirements for neutron production with a power between 1 and 1.4 MW. A medium-energy beam transport (MEBT) beam current of 46 mA with a 5.4% duty factor has been demonstrated for 32 h. A 56 mA MEBT beam current with a 4.1% duty factor has been demonstrated for 20 min at the conclusion of a 12-day production run. This is close to the 59 mA needed for 3 MW neutron productions. Also notable is the Cs(2)CrO(4) cesium system, which dispenses approximately 10 mg of Cs during the startup of the ion source, sufficient for producing the required 38 mA for 4 weeks without significant degradation.

Ion source antenna development for the Spallation Neutron Source

The operational lifetime of a radio-frequency (rf) ion source is generally governed by the length of time the insulating structure protecting the antenna survives during exposure to the plasma. Coating the antenna with a thin layer of insulating material is a common means of extending the life of such antennas. When low-power/low-duty factor rf excitation is employed, antenna lifetimes of several hundred hours are typical. When high-power, >30 kW, and high-duty cycles, ∼6%, are employed, as is the case of the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) ion source, antenna lifetime becomes unacceptably short. This work addresses this problem by first showing the results of microanalysis of failed antennas from the SNS ion source, developing a model of the damage mechanism based on plasma-insulator interaction, using the model to determine the dimensional and material properties of an ideal coating, and describing several approaches currently under way to develop a long-lived antenna for the SNS accelerator. These appr...

The continued development of the Spallation Neutron Source external antenna H- ion source

The U.S. Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) is an accelerator-based, pulsed neutron-scattering facility, currently in the process of ramping up neutron production. In order to ensure that the SNS will meet its operational commitments as well as provide for future facility upgrades with high reliability, we are developing a rf-driven, H(-) ion source based on a water-cooled, ceramic aluminum nitride (AlN) plasma chamber. To date, early versions of this source have delivered up to 42 mA to the SNS front end and unanalyzed beam currents up to approximately 100 mA (60 Hz, 1 ms) to the ion source test stand. This source was operated on the SNS accelerator from February to April 2009 and produced approximately 35 mA (beam current required by the ramp up plan) with availability of approximately 97%. During this run several ion source failures identified reliability issues, which must be addressed before the source re-enters production: plasma ignition, antenna lifetime, magnet cooling, and cooling jacket integrity. This report discusses these issues, details proposed engineering solutions, and notes progress to date.

Simulation of the ion source extraction and low energy beam transport systems for the Spallation Neutron Source

The ion source for the Spallation Neutron Source is a radio-frequency (rf) multi-cusp, volume-type H− source that is coupled to a rf quadrupole accelerator through a low energy beam transport (LEBT) system consisting of five electrostatic elements. To gain a deeper understanding of the operation of this system and to continue to refine the design, we have performed ion extraction and transport simulations using the computer code PBGUNS. A comparison is presented between simulation and the measured phase space of the beam for various values of LEBT electrode potentials. Both the emittance magnitude and orientation in phase space were found to be in reasonable agreement with measurement. A design study is also presented where the angle of the source outlet electrode has been optimized with the aid of PBGUNS simulations, resulting in a substantial reduction of the emittance.

Ramping Up the SNS Beam Power with the LBNL Baseline H−Source

LBNL designed and built the Frontend for the Spallation Neutron Source, including its H− source and Low‐Energy Beam Transport (LEBT). This paper discusses the performance of the H− source and LEBT during the commissioning of the accelerator, as well as their performance while ramping up the SNS beam power to 540 kW. Detailed discussions of major shortcomings and their mitigations are presented to illustrate the effort needed to take even a well‐designed R&D ion source into operation. With these modifications, at 4% duty factor the LBNL H− source meets the essential requirements that were set at the beginning of the project.

Recent performance of the SNS H(-) ion source and low-energy beam transport system.

Recent measurements of the H(-) beam current show that SNS is injecting about 55 mA into the RFQ compared to ∼45 mA in 2010. Since 2010, the H(-) beam exiting the RFQ dropped from ∼40 mA to ∼34 mA, which is sufficient for 1 MW of beam power. To minimize the impact of the RFQ degradation, the service cycle of the best performing source was extended to 6 weeks. The only degradation is fluctuations in the electron dump voltage towards the end of some service cycles, a problem that is being investigated. Very recently, the RFQ was retuned, which partly restored its transmission. In addition, the electrostatic low-energy beam transport system was reengineered to double its heat sinking and equipped with a thermocouple that monitors the temperature of the ground electrode between the two Einzel lenses. The recorded data show that emissions from the source at high voltage dominate the heat load. Emissions from the partly Cs-covered first lens cause the temperature to peak several hours after starting up. On rare occasions, the temperature can also peak due to corona discharges between the center ground electrode and one of the lenses.

Producing persistent, high-current, high-duty-factor H− beams for routine 1 MW operation of Spallation Neutron Source (invited)a)

Since 2009, the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) has been producing neutrons with ion beam powers near 1 MW, which requires the extraction of ∼50 mA H(-) ions from the ion source with a ∼5% duty factor. The 50 mA are achieved after an initial dose of ∼3 mg of Cs and heating the Cs collar to ∼170 °C. The 50 mA normally persist for the entire 4-week source service cycles. Fundamental processes are reviewed to elucidate the persistence of the SNS H(-) beams without a steady feed of Cs and why the Cs collar temperature may have to be kept near 170 °C.

Self-consistent, unbiased root-mean-square emittance analysis

We present a self-consistent method for analyzing measured emittance data that yields unbiased estimates for the root-mean-square (rms) emittance. The self-consistent, unbiased elliptical exclusion analysis uses an ellipse to determine the bias from the data outside the ellipse, before calculating the rms emittance from the bias-subtracted data within the ellipse. Increasing the ellipse size until the rms emittance estimate saturates allows for determining the minimum elliptical area that includes all real signals, even those buried in the noise. Variations of the ellipse shape and orientations are used to test the robustness of the results. Background fluctuations cause fluctuations in the rms emittance estimate, which are an estimate of the uncertainty incurred through the analysis.

The status of the spallation neutron source ion source

The ion source for the spallation neutron source (SNS) is a radio-frequency, multicusp source designed to deliver 45 mA of H− to the SNS accelerator with a pulse length of 1 ms and repetition rate of 60 Hz. A total of three ion sources have been fabricated and commissioned at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and subsequently delivered to the SNS at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The ion sources are currently being rotated between operation on the SNS accelerator, where they are involved in ongoing efforts to commission the SNS LINAC, and the hot spare stand (HSS), where high-current tests are in progress. Commissioning work involves operating the source in a low duty-factor mode (pulse width ∼200 μs and repetition rate ∼5 Hz) for extended periods of time while the high-current tests involve source operation at full duty-factor of 6% (1 ms/60 Hz). This report discusses routine performance of the source employed in the commissioning role as well as the initial results of high-current tests performe...

H- radio frequency source development at the Spallation Neutron Source.

The Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) now routinely operates nearly 1 MW of beam power on target with a highly persistent ∼38 mA peak current in the linac and an availability of ∼90%. H(-) beam pulses (∼1 ms, 60 Hz) are produced by a Cs-enhanced, multicusp ion source closely coupled with an electrostatic low energy beam transport (LEBT), which focuses the 65 kV beam into a radio frequency quadrupole accelerator. The source plasma is generated by RF excitation (2 MHz, ∼60 kW) of a copper antenna that has been encased with a thickness of ∼0.7 mm of porcelain enamel and immersed into the plasma chamber. The ion source and LEBT normally have a combined availability of ∼99%. Recent increases in duty-factor and RF power have made antenna failures a leading cause of downtime. This report first identifies the physical mechanism of antenna failure from a statistical inspection of ∼75 antennas which ran at the SNS, scanning electron microscopy studies of antenna surface, and cross sectional cuts and analysis of calorimetric heating measurements. Failure mitigation efforts are then described which include modifying the antenna geometry and our acceptance∕installation criteria. Progress and status of the development of the SNS external antenna source, a long-term solution to the internal antenna problem, are then discussed. Currently, this source is capable of delivering comparable beam currents to the baseline source to the SNS and, an earlier version, has briefly demonstrated unanalyzed currents up to ∼100 mA (1 ms, 60 Hz) on the test stand. In particular, this paper discusses plasma ignition (dc and RF plasma guns), antenna reliability, magnet overheating, and insufficient beam persistence.