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Title: The performance of the Los Alamos Proton Storage Ring

Conference ·
OSTI ID:6796590

The Proton Storage Ring (PSR) now in operation at Los Alamos is a high-current accumulator that generates intense 800-MeV proton pulses for driving the Los Alamos Neutron Scattering Center (LANSCE) spallation source. The ring compresses up to 1000-..mu..s-long macropulses from the LAMPF linac into 250-ns bunches and ejects them to a neutron-production target, providing an output optimized for thermal-neutron-scattering research. The design pulse rate and peak pulse intensity of PSR are 12 Hz and 5.2 . 10/sup 13/ protons per pulse (ppp), yielding 100 ..mu..A average current when full performance is reached. This paper summarizes commissioning results and operational experience in the two years since first beam. The PSR has operated in production at average currents up to 30 ..mu..A and has reached a peak intensity of 3.4 . 10/sup 13/ ppp. These achievements represents 30% and 65% of the design objectives. Higher current production has been inhibited by beam losses during accumulation and extraction. Therefore, experiments to understand loss mechanisms have occupied a large fraction of the commissioning effort. Correction of an extraction-channel aperture restriction identified late in 1986 should dramatically reduce extraction losses, which will permit higher current production in 1987. Beam tests in the 10/sup 13/-ppp range have indicated the presence of a collective instability tentatively identified as transverse. However, by suitable parameter adjustments, the instability threshold can be pushed above the top charge-level attainable with the existing H /sup -/ source.

Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
W-7405-ENG-36
OSTI ID:
6796590
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-87-873; CONF-870302-34; ON: DE87007491
Resource Relation:
Conference: Particle accelerator conference, Washington, DC, USA, 16 Mar 1987; Other Information: Portions of this document are illegible in microfiche products
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English