MI high power operation and future plans

Fermilab's Main Injector on acceleration cycles to 120 GeV has been running a mixed mode operation delivering beam to both the antiproton source for pbar production and to the NuMI[1] target for neutrino production since 2005. On January 2008 the slip stacking process used to increase the beam to the pbar target was expanded to include the beam to the NuMI target increasing both the beam intensity and power. The current high power MI operation will be described along with the near future plans

2.5 MHz feedforward beam loading compensation in the Fermilab Main Injector

There are five 2.5 MHz ferrite cavities (h = 28) in the Main Injector with an R/Q of 500 that are presently used for coalescing for the Tevatron. For use with the Fermilab Recycler, feedforward (FF) beam loading compensation (BLC) is required on these cavities because they will be required to operate at a net of 2 kV. Under current Recycler beam conditions, the beam-induced voltage is of this order. Recently a system using a digital bucket delay module operating at 53 MHz (h = 588) was used to produce a one-turn-delay feedforward signal. This signal was then combined with the low level RF signal to the 2.5 MHz cavities to cancel the beam induced voltage. During current operation they have shown consistently to operate with over a 20 dB reduction in beam loading

Fermilab Main Injector Collimation Systems: Design, Commissioning and Operation

The Fermilab Main Injector is moving toward providing 400 kW of 120 GeV proton beams using slip stacking injection of eleven Booster batches. Loss of 5% of the beam at or near injection energy results in 1.5 kW of beam loss. A collimation system has been implemented to localize this loss with the design emphasis on beam not captured in the accelerating RF buckets. More than 95% of these losses are captured in the collimation region. We will report on the construction, commissioning and operation of this collimation system. Commissioning studies and loss measurement tools will be discussed. Residual radiation monitoring of the Main Injector machine components will be used to demonstrate the effectiveness of these efforts

Experimental Study of the Main Ring Transition Crossing

A number of different experiments were proposed as part of the Fermilab III Instabilities Workshop in order to study the transition crossing in the Main Ring. Due to time limitations and operational restrictions only one of the experiments was actually performed. The results and analysis presented here are preliminary. We used an injection mismatch to deliberately blow up the longitudinal emittance in the MR 29 cycles, and measured the increase in bunch emittance and the particle loss through transition as functions of the initial bunch emittance. The experiment was repeated for different intensities (2, 4 booster turns) and for different rf voltages around transition. The purpose of the experiment was to distinguish the mechanism that is responsible for emittance growth and particle loss across transition. 4 refs., 7 figs

FLUKA-MARS15 simulations to optimize the Fermilab PIP-II movable beam absorber

PIP-II is the Fermilab's flagship project to provide powerful, high-intensity proton beams to the laboratory's experiments. The heart of the PIP-II project is an H- 800 MeV superconducting linear accelerator. In order to commission the beam and operate safely the linac, several constraints were evaluated. The design of a movable 5 kW beam absorber was finalized to allow staged beam commissioning in different linac locations. Prompt and residual radiation levels were calculated, and radiation shields were optimized to keep those values within the acceptable levels in the areas surrounding beam absorber. Monte Carlo calculations with FLUKA and MARS15 codes are presented in the paper to support these studies.PIP-II is the Fermilab's flagship project to provide powerful, high-intensity proton beams to the laboratory's experiments. The heart of the PIP-II project is an H- 800 MeV superconducting linear accelerator. In order to commission the beam and operate safely the linac, several constraints were evaluated. The design of a movable 5 kW beam absorber was finalized to allow staged beam commissioning in different linac locations. Prompt and residual radiation levels were calculated, and radiation shields were optimized to keep those values within the acceptable levels in the areas surrounding beam absorber. Monte Carlo calculations with FLUKA and MARS15 codes are presented in the paper to support these studies

Fermilab main injector: High intensity operation and beam loss control

From 2005 through 2012, the Fermilab Main Injector provided intense beams of 120 GeV protons to produce neutrino beams and antiprotons. Hardware improvements in conjunction with improved diagnostics allowed the system to reach sustained operation at 400 kW beam power. Transmission was very high except for beam lost at or near the 8 GeV injection energy where 95% beam transmission results in about 1.5 kW of beam loss. By minimizing and localizing loss, residual radiation levels fell while beam power was doubled. Lost beam was directed to either the collimation system or to the beam abort. Critical apertures were increased while improved instrumentation allowed optimal use of available apertures. We will summarize the improvements required to achieve high intensity, the impact of various loss control tools and the status and trends in residual radiation in the Main Injector