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The LANSCE accelerator is currently powered by a filament-driven, biased converter-type H− ion source that operates at 10%, the highest plasma duty factor for this type of source, using only ∼2.2 SCCM of H2. The ion source needs to be replaced every 4 weeks, which takes up to 4 days. The measured negative beam current of 12–16 mA falls below the desired 24 mA acceptance of the LANCSE accelerator. The SNS (Spallation Neutron Source) RF-driven, H− ion source injects ∼50 mA of H− beam into the SNS accelerator at 60 Hz with a 6% duty factor and an availability of >99.5% but requires ∼30 SCCM of H2. Up to 7 A h of H− have been produced during the 14-weeks-long source service cycles, which is unprecedented for small emittance, high-current, pulsed H− ion sources. The emittance of the SNS source is slightly smaller than the emittance of the LANSCE source. The SNS source also features unrivaled low Cs consumption and can be installed and started up in <12 h. LANSCE and SNS are working toward the use of SNS H− ion sources on the LANSCE accelerator because they could (a) fill the LANSCE accelerator to its capacity, (b) decrease the source replacement time by a factor of up to 7, and (c) increase source lifetime by a factor of about 4. This paper discusses some of the challenges that emerge when trying to match a different H− source into an existing injector with significantly different characteristics and operating regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Spallation Neutron Source operates reliably at 1.2 MW and will gradually ramp to 1.4 MW. This paper briefly recalls some of the struggles when the unprecedented project was started and ramped to 1 MW over a 3½ year period. This was challenging, especially for the H− ion source and the low-energy beam transport system, which make up the H− injector. It took several more years to push the H− injector to the 1.4 MW requirements, and even longer to reach close to 100% injector availability. An additional breakthrough was the carefully staged, successful extension of the H− source service cycle so that disruptive source changes became rare events. More than 7 A·h of extracted H− ions have been demonstrated with a single source without maintenance, more than twice the single-source quantity of ions produced by any other high-current H− accelerator facility. Achieving the 1.4 MW requirements with close to 100% availability and record-breaking source service cycles were the basis for the 2017 Brightness Award. [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]