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The U.S. Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) is a state-of-the-art neutron scattering facility delivering the world's most intense pulsed neutron beams to a wide array of instruments, which are used to conduct investigations in many fields of engineering, physics, chemistry, material science, and biology. Neutrons are produced by spallation of liquid Hg by the bombardment of short (∼1 µs), intense (∼35 A) pulses of protons delivered at 60 Hz by an accumulator ring which is fed by a high-intensity, 1 GeV, H− LINAC (linear accelerator). This facility has operated nearly continuously since 2006 but has recently undergone a 4-month maintenance period, which featured a complete replacement of the 2.5 MeV injector feeding the LINAC. The new injector was developed at ORNL in an off-line beam test facility and consists of an ion source, low energy beam transport, and a Radio Frequency Quadrupole (RFQ). This report first describes the installed configuration of the new injector detailing the ion source system. The first beam current, RFQ transmission, emittance, and energy measurements from the injector installed on the SNS are reported. These data not only show a significant performance improvement for our existing facility but will also make accessible the higher beam current requirements for future SNS upgrade projects: the proton power upgrade and second target station. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spallation Neutron Source ramps to higher power levels that can be sustained with high availability. The goal is 1.4MWdespite a compromised radio frequency quadrupole (RFQ), which requires higher radio frequency power than design levels to approach the nominal beam transmission. Unfortunately at higher power the RFQ often loses its thermal stability, a problem apparently enhanced by beam losses and high influxes of hydrogen. Delivering as much H- beam as possible with the least amount of hydrogen led to plasma outages. The root cause is the dense 1-ms long ~55-kW 2-MHz plasma pulses reflecting ~90% of the continuous ~300 W, 13-MHz power, which was mitigated with a 4-ms filter for the reflected power signal and an outage resistant, slightly detuned 13-MHz match. Lowering the H2 gas also increased the H- beam current to ~55 mA and increased the RFQ transmission by ~7% (relative). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Spallation Neutron Source H- ion source is operated with a pulsed 2-MHz RF (50-60 kW) to produce the 1-ms long, ~50 mA H- beams at 60 Hz. A continuous low power (~300 W) 13.56-MHz RF plasma, which is initially ignited with a H2 pressure bump, serves as starter plasma for the pulsed high power 2-MHz RF discharges. To reduce the risk of plasma outages at lower H2 flow rates which is desired for improved performance of the following radio frequency quadrupole, the 13.56-MHz RF matching network was characterized over a broad range of its two tuning capacitors. The H-α line intensity of the 13.56-MHz RF plasma and the reflected power of the 13.56-MHz RF were mapped against the capacitor settings. Optimal tunes for the maximum H-α intensity are consistent with the optimal tunes for minimum reflected power. Low limits of the H2 flow rate not causing plasma outages were explored within the range of the map. A tune region that allows lower H2 flow rate has been identified, which differs from the optimal tune for global minimum reflected power that was mostly used in the past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory operates the Spallation Neutron Source, consisting of a H- ion source, a 1 GeV linac and an accumulator ring. The accumulated <1 μs-long, ~35 A beam pulses are extracted from the ring at 60 Hz and directed onto a liquid Hg target. Spalled neutrons are directed to ~20 world class instruments. Currently, the facility operates routinely with ~1.2 MW of average beam power, which soon will be raised to 1.4 MW. A future upgrade with a second target station calls for raising the power to 2.8 MW. This paper describes the status of two accelerator components expected to play important roles in achieving these goals: a recently acquired RFQ accelerator and the external antenna ion source. Currently, the RFQ is being conditioned in a newly constructed 2.5 MeV Integrated Test Facility (ITF) and the external antenna source is also being tested on a separate test stand. This paper presents the results of experiments and the testing of these systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The H- injector consisting of a cesium enhanced RF-driven ion source and a 2-lens electrostatic low-energy beam transport (LEBT) system supports the spallation neutron source 1 MW beam operation with ∼38 mA beam current in the linac at 60 Hz with a pulse length of up to ∼1.0 ms. In this work, two important issues associated with the low-energy beam transport are discussed: (1) inconsistent dependence of the post-radio frequency quadrupole accelerator beam current on the ion source tilt angle and (2) high power beam losses on the LEBT electrodes under some off-nominal conditions compromising their reliability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new Allison-type emittance scanner has been built to characterize the ion sources and low energy beam transport systems at Spallation Neutron Source. In this work, the emittance characteristics of the H- beam produced with the external-antenna rf-driven ion source and transported through the two-lens electrostatic low energy beam transport are studied. The beam emittance dependence on beam intensity, extraction parameters, and the evolution of the emittance and twiss parameters over beam pulse duration are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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 (≤10 Hz) and short pulse lengths (≤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 ∼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 Cs2CrO4 cesium system, which dispenses ∼10 mg of Cs during the startup of the ion source, sufficient for producing the required 38 mA for 4 weeks without significant degradation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beam simulation codes PBGUNS, SIMION, and LORENTZ-3D were evaluated by modeling the well-diagnosed SNS base line ion source and low energy beam transport (LEBT) system. Then, an investigation was conducted using these codes to assist our ion source and LEBT development effort which is directed at meeting the SNS operational and also the power-upgrade project goals. A high-efficiency H- extraction system as well as magnetic and electrostatic LEBT configurations capable of transporting up to 100 mA is studied using these simulation tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The U.S. Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) will require substantially higher average and pulse H- beam currents than can be produced from conventional ion sources such as the base line SNS source. H- currents of 40–50 mA (SNS operations) and 70–100 mA (power upgrade project) with a rms emittance of 0.20–0.35π mm mrad and a ∼7% duty factor will be needed. We are therefore investigating several advanced ion source concepts based on rf plasma excitation. First, the performance characteristics of an external antenna source based on an Al2O3 plasma chamber combined with an external multicusp magnetic configuration, an elemental Cs system, and plasma gun will be discussed. Second, the first plasma measurements of a helicon-driven H- ion source will also be presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Spallation Neutron Source (SNS), a large scale neutron production facility, routinely operates with 30^0 mA peak current in the linac. Recent measurements have shown that our RF-driven internal antenna, Cs-enhanced, multi-cusp ion sources injects ~55 mA of H- beam current (~1ms, 60 Hz) at 65-kV into a Radio Frequency Quadrupole (RFQ) accelerator through a closely coupled electro-static Low-Energy Beam Transport system. Over the last several years a decrease in RFQ transmission and issues with internal antennas has stimulated source development at the SNS both for the internal and external antenna ion sources. This report discusses progress in improving internal antenna reliability, H- yield improvements which resulted from modifications to the outlet aperture assembly (applicable to both internal and external antenna sources) and studies made of the long standing problem of beam persistence with the external antenna source. The current status of the external antenna ion source will also be presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A three-dimensional ion optical code IBSimu, which is being developed at the University of Jyväskylä, features positive and negative ion plasma extraction models and self-consistent space charge calculation. The code has been utilized for modeling the existing extraction system of the H- ion source of the Spallation Neutron Source. Simulation results are in good agreement with experimental data. A high-current extraction system with downstream electron dumping at intermediate energy has been designed. According to the simulations it provides lower emittance compared to the baseline system at H- currents exceeding 40 mA. A magnetic low energy beam transport section consisting of two solenoids has been designed to transport the beam from the alternative electrostatic extraction systems to the radio frequency quadrupole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spallation Neutron Source is currently in progress of a multiyear plan to ramp ion beam power to the initial design power of 1.4 MW. Key to reaching this goal is understanding and improving the operation of the H- ion source. An Allison scanner was installed on the ion source in the test facility to support this improvement. This paper will discuss the hardware and the software control system of the installed Allison scanner. The hardware for the system consists of several parts. The heart of the system is the scanner head, complete with associated bias plates, slits, and signal detector. There are two analog controlled high voltage power supplies to bias the plates in the head, and a motor with associated controller to position the head in the beam. A multifunction data acquisition card reads the signals from the signal detector, as well as supplies the analog voltage control for the power supplies. To synchronize data acquisition with the source, the same timing signal that is used to trigger the source itself is used to trigger data acquisition. Finally, there is an industrial personal computer to control the rest of the hardware. Control software was developed using National Instruments LABVIEW, and consists of two parts: a data acquisition program to control the hardware and a stand alone application for offline user data analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]