Upgrade of the Spallation Neutron Source Injection and Extraction Kicker Pulse Verification Systems

Abstract

The Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) injection system transports a chopped, 1ms H- ion beam from the linac into the accumulator ring, where two electrons are stripped from each ion, resulting in a proton beam propagating in the ring. The injection kickers use a 1400A current source with a 1ms discharge time to paint the optimum phase space of the injected proton population. The accumulation ring stacks 1us bunches from the 1ms beam pulse to increase peak beam current by a factor of ~1000. The accumulated beam is deflected by fourteen 33kV, 700ns pulsed extraction kicker magnets and delivered to the mercury target, where neutrons are spalled for science experiments. Protecting the accelerator from an errant beam—which may result from asynchronous firing or insufficient magnetic-field intensity in kicker systems—requires a system that monitors and verifies the pulsed current in the kicker magnets prior to and during each 60Hz beam pulse. In addition, the extraction system pulse-forming network (PFN) is verified to be correctly charged and ready for triggering prior to injecting the beam into the linac from the ion source. This paper describes the two verification systems requirements, limitations of the existing systems, and development of new systems.