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The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) is under construction to measure the expansion history of the Universe using the Baryon Acoustic Oscillation technique. The spectra of 35 million galaxies and quasars over 14000 sq deg will be measured during the life of the experiment. A new prime focus corrector for the KPNO Mayall telescope will deliver light to 5000 fiber optic positioners. The fibers in turn feed ten broad-band spectrographs. To achieve this goal, it is crucial to guarantee that fiber positioners work properly under the extremes of potential operating conditions, including the full range of temperatures, high speed wind disturbance etc. Thermal testing provides valuable insight into the functionality of the fiber positioners that can be used to help mitigate poor performance at extreme temperatures and wind disturbance test provide guidance to design of ventilation system. Here, we describe the thermal and wind disturbance tests for DESI fiber positioners and how the test results helped improve the robustness of the positioners.

A new free electron laser being built at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, the Linear Coherent Light Source II (LCLS-II), will use 21 soft x-ray undulators (SXR) and 32 hard x-ray undulators (HGVPU). Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) is responsible for the design and manufacturing of all variable-gap, hybrid permanent-magnet undulators. The physics requirements for the undulators specify a longitudinal pole misalignment maximum rms error of 25 µm and a vertical pole misalignment maximum error of 50 µm. In addition, magnet positioning critically influences the gap-dependent field properties due to saturation effects at the smallest operational gaps. This paper discusses the manufacturing and QA methods developed to carefully control the longitudinal and vertical pole and magnet positions during undulator production. Inspection results are discussed based on data gathered during construction of a prototype as well as pre-production soft x-ray undulator.

The design of a compact all-permanent magnet electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) ion source injector for the ReAccelerator Facility (ReA) at the Michigan State University (MSU) National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL) is currently being carried out. The ECR ion source injector will complement the electron beam ion trap (EBIT) charge breeder as an off-line stable ion beam injector for the ReA linac. The objective of the ECR ion source injector is to provide continuous-wave beams of heavy ions from hydrogen to masses up to 136Xe within the ReA charge-to-mass ratio (Q/A) operational range from 0.2 to 0.5. The ECR ion source will be mounted on a high-voltage platform that can be adjusted to obtain the required 12 keV/u injection energy into a room temperature radio-frequency quadrupole (RFQ) for further acceleration. The beam line consists of a 30 kV tetrode extraction system, mass analyzing section, and optical matching section for injection into the existing ReA low energy beam transport (LEBT) line. The design of the ECR ion source and the associated beam line are discussed.

The remarkable complexity of soil and its importance to a wide range of ecosystem services presents major challenges to the modeling of soil processes. Although major progress in soil models has occurred in the last decades, models of soil processes remain disjointed between disciplines or ecosystem services, with considerable uncertainty remaining in the quality of predictions and several challenges that remain yet to be addressed. First, there is a need to improve exchange of knowledge and experience among the different disciplines in soil science and to reach out to other Earth science communities. Second, the community needs to develop a new generation of soil models based on a systemic approach comprising relevant physical, chemical, and biological processes to address critical knowledge gaps in our understanding of soil processes and their interactions. Overcoming these challenges will facilitate exchanges between soil modeling and climate, plant, and social science modeling communities. It will allow us to contribute to preserve and improve our assessment of ecosystem services and advance our understanding of climate-change feedback mechanisms, among others, thereby facilitating and strengthening communication among scientific disciplines and society. We review the role of modeling soil processes in quantifying key soil processes that shape ecosystem services, with a focus on provisioning and regulating services. We then identify key challenges in modeling soil processes, including the systematic incorporation of heterogeneity and uncertainty, the integration of data and models, and strategies for effective integration of knowledge on physical, chemical, and biological soil processes. We discuss how the soil modeling community could best interface with modern modeling activities in other disciplines, such as climate, ecology, and plant research, and how to weave novel observation and measurement techniques into soil models. We propose the establishment of an international soil modeling consortium to coherently advance soil modeling activities and foster communication with other Earth science disciplines. Such a consortium should promote soil modeling platforms and data repository for model development, calibration and intercomparison essential for addressing contemporary challenges.

In this paper, we revisit and extend a formula to predict the compensation of space charge in positive DC ion beams of non-relativistic energy, as they are for example found in the injector beam lines of heavy ion accelerator facilities.The original formula was presented in 1975 by Igor Gabovich et al. and takes into account the de-compensation through Coulomb collisions of the primary beam ions and the compensating electrons. We extend its usability to arbitrary (positive) charge states of the ions and non-quasineutral beams.The resulting formula compares well with measurements using a retarding field analyzer and a multi-species generalization of it was incorporated into beam transport simulations using the particle-in-cell code WARP.

The available data on nuclear fusion cross sections important to energy generation in the Sun and other hydrogen-burning stars and to solar neutrino production are summarized and critically evaluated. Recommended values and uncertainties are provided for key cross sections, and a recommended spectrum is given for B8 solar neutrinos. Opportunities for further increasing the precision of key rates are also discussed, including new facilities, new experimental techniques, and improvements in theory. This review, which summarizes the conclusions of a workshop held at the Institute for Nuclear Theory, Seattle, in January 2009, is intended as a 10-year update and supplement to 1998, Rev. Mod. Phys. 70, 1265RMPHAT0034-686110.1103/RevModPhys.70.1265. © 2011 American Physical Society.

The concepts and technical challenges related to developing a fourth generation electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) ion source with a rf frequency greater than 40 GHz and magnetic confinement fields greater than twice B(ECR) will be explored in this article. Based on the semiempirical frequency scaling of ECR plasma density with the square of operating frequency, there should be significant gains in performance over current third generation ECR ion sources, which operate at rf frequencies between 20 and 30 GHz. While the third generation ECR ion sources use NbTi superconducting solenoid and sextupole coils, the new sources will need to use different superconducting materials, such as Nb(3)Sn, to reach the required magnetic confinement, which scales linearly with rf frequency. Additional technical challenges include increased bremsstrahlung production, which may increase faster than the plasma density, bremsstrahlung heating of the cold mass, and the availability of high power continuous wave microwave sources at these frequencies. With each generation of ECR ion sources, there are new challenges to be mastered, but the potential for higher performance and reduced cost of the associated accelerator continues to make this a promising avenue for development.

In this paper, we present a three-dimensional model for self-consistently modeling ion beam formation from plasma ion sources and transporting in low energy beam transport systems. A multi-section overlapped computational domain has been used to break the original transport system into a number of weakly coupled subsystems. Within each subsystem, macro-particle tracking is used to obtain the charge density distribution in this subdomain. The three-dimensional Poisson equation is solved within the subdomain after each particle tracking to obtain the self-consistent space-charge forces and the particle tracking is repeated until the solution converges. Two new Poisson solvers based on a combination of the spectral method and the finite difference multigrid method have been developed to solve the Poisson equation in cylindrical coordinates for the straight beam transport section and in Frenet-Serret coordinates for the bending magnet section. This model can have important application in design and optimization of the low energy beam line optics of the proposed Rare Isotope Accelerator (RIA) front end.

The driver linac of the proposed Rare Isotope Accelerator(RIA) requires a great variety of high intensity, high charge state ion beams. In order to design and to optimize the low energy beam line optics of the RIA front end,we have developed a new parallel three-dimensional model to simulate the low energy, multi-species ion beam formation and transport from the ECR ion source extraction region to the focal plane of the analyzing magnet. A multisection overlapped computational domain has been used to break the original transport system into a number of each subsystem, macro-particle tracking is used to obtain the charge density distribution in this subdomain.The three-dimensional Poisson equation is solved within the subdomain and particle tracking is repeated until the solution converges. Two new Poisson solvers basedon a combination of the spectral method and the multigrid method have been developed to solve the Poisson equation in cylindrical coordinates for the beam extraction regionand in the Frenet-Serret coordinates for the bending magnet region. Some test examples and initial applications will also be presented.

During the last year, the VENUS ECR ion source was commissioned at 18 GHz and preparations for 28 GHz operation, which is set to begin early in 2004, are now underway. The goal of the VENUS ECR ion source project as the RIA R&D injector is the production of 240 emA of U30+, a high current medium charge state beam. On the other hand, as an injector ion source for the 88-Inch Cyclotron the design objective is the production of 5emA of U48+, a low current, very high charge state beam. During the commissioning phase with 18 GHz, tests with various gases and recently metals have been performed with up to 2000 W RF power and the performance is very promising. For example, 1100 e mu A of O6+, 180 e mu A of Ar12+, 150 emA of Xe20+ and 100 emA of Bi24+ were produced in the early commissioning phase, ranking VENUS among the currently highest performance 18 GHz ECR ion sources. The emittance of the beams produced at 18 GHz was measured with a two axis emittance scanner. In FY04 a 10 kW, 28 GHz gyrotron system will be added, which will enable VENUS to reach full performance. The performance of the VENUS ion source, low energy beam transport (LEBT) and its closed loop cryogenic system are described in the paper. Recently, a new high temperature axial oven has been installed in the source and the first results on metal beams such as bismuth are given. The design of the 28 GHz, 10 kW gyrotron system is also be described. During the last year, the VENUS ECR ion source was commissioned at 18 GHz and preparations for 28 GHz operation, which is set to begin early in 2004, are now underway. The goal of the VENUS ECR +, a high current medium charge state beam. On the other hand, as an injector ion source for the 88-Inch Cyclotron the design objective is the production of 5 emA of U48+, a low current, very high charge state beam. During the commissioning phase with 18 GHz, tests with various gases and recently metals have been performed with up to 2000 W RF power and the performance is very promising. For example, 1100 e mu A of O6+, 180 e mu A of Ar12+, 150 emA of Xe20+ and 100 emA of Bi24+ were produced in the early commissioning phase, ranking VENUS among the currently highest performance 18 GHz ECR ion sources. The emittance of the beams produced at 18 GHz was measured with a two axis emittance scanner. In FY04 a 10 kW, 28 GHz gyrotron system will be added, which will enable VENUS to reach full performance. The performance of the VENUS ion source, low energy beam transport (LEBT) and its closed loop cryogenic system are described in the paper. Recently, a new high temperature axial oven has been installed in the source and the first results on metal beams such as bismuth are given. The design of the 28 GHz, 10 kW gyrotron system is also be described.

The next generation superconducting ECR ion source, :VENUS, has recently began operation at 18 GHz following six years of design and construction. The ion source and its closed cycle cryogenic system will be described along with the design of the 28 GHz 10 kW gyrotron system, which is scheduled for installation at the end of 2003. The low energy beam transport section includes a Glaser lens, a high transmission 90 degree analyzing magnet and a two axis emittance scanner to measure beam transport efficiency and emittance of the intense multi-charged ion beams. Results from the ongoing commissioning at 18 GHz are reported. Initial tests with gases such as helium, oxygen, argon and xenon have been performed with up to 2000 W of 18 GHz RF power. Promising performance has been measured in those preliminary beam tests. For example, 1100 e?A of O6+, 180 e?A of Ar12+ and 84 e?A of Xe27+ were produced and the dependence of current versus RF power indicates more power is needed for optimum performance. Emittance measurements for various ion species have been performed and are discussed.