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Séminaires du pôle accélérateurs

Spiral2 in 2020: record power from Linac and first neutrons at NFS

par Dr Robin Ferdinand (GANIL)

Europe/Paris
Description

 

At the end of November 2020, the proton beams of the new SPIRAL2 superconducting linear accelerator at Ganil reached 10% of their maximum power. In September 2020, the Neutrons For Science (NFS) facility produced its first neutrons by interaction of Linac protons with thin lithium and beryllium targets. The first experiments are planned for the fall of 2021.
Ganil continues to successfully commission the SPIRAL2 superconducting LINAC. The ramp-up of the Linac has been planned to be very gradual, in four phases. The November 2020 record (16 kW proton beam at Imax, i.e. 3x1016 particles per second) marks the beginning of the last stage. With this record, the GANIL teams demonstrate their excellent control of the beam, with an extremely low level of beam loss compatible with operation at Pmax (160kW in proton, 200kW in deuton). This success results in particular from collaborations between teams from IN2P3, Irfu and GANIL, which have contributed to a very good understanding of the physics of acceleration - the result of numerous simulations and error calculations - and to the development of several advanced techniques (RF servo-controls in particular).
In September 2020, NFS produced its first neutrons by interaction between the Linac proton beam and thin lithium and beryllium targets. Their almost "mono-energetic" energy spectrum could be measured using a plastic scintillator, coupled to a photomultiplier. For higher power deposition, a thicker rotating target made of carbon or beryllium has been successfully validated with a 31.9 MeV proton beam at 1350W. Finally, in the fall of 2020, a first "test experiment" was performed using the MEDLEY detector.