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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 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]

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 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]

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]

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]

A prototype RF H- surface plasma source (SPS) with saddle (SA) RF antenna is developed which will provide better power efficiency for high pulsed and average current, higher brightness with longer lifetime and higher reliability. Several versions of new plasma generators with small AlN discharge chambers and different antennas and magnetic field configurations were tested in the plasma source test stand. A prototype SA SPS was installed in the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) ion source test stand with a larger, normal-sized SNS AlN chamber that achieved unanalyzed peak currents of up to 67 mA with an apparent efficiency up to 1.6 mA/kW. Control experiments with H- beam produced by SNS SPS with internal and external antennas were conducted. A new version of the RF triggering plasma gun has been designed. A saddle antenna SPS with water cooling is fabricated for high duty factor testing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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 ∼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 ∼35 mA (beam current required by the ramp up plan) with availability of ∼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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]