Beam Delivery Report

A daily (more or less) report on beam delivery at TRIUMF, and part of the Beam Delivery group's Guide for Experimenters.

13:56, 12 May 2009 (PDT)

Another interesting day. The cyclotron is still delivering ~110 µA to BL1A and low currents to BL2C for PIF, while we continue to try to start a new target at ISAC. Proton scans of that target are underway (at reduced current) and it looks like some effort's going to be needed to straighten out the BL2A tune before we can continue to higher currents. In the meantime, thing will continue as they are in the Meson Hall for the next couple of days. – Morton

17:32, 11 May 2009 (PDT)

A new target is being brought on-line at ISAC and PIF is running on BL2C, so the currents from the cyclotron are a bit odd: 110 µA down BL1A, nA down BL2C, and 25 µA down BL2A. 2A will continue to ramp up to 70—75 µA overnight, while 2C will continue at low currents until later in the week. Meson Hall users will continue to take beam as scheduled.

The new ISAC production target (SiC #20, a high-power target with a FEBIAD ion source) is taking a long time to outgas. The target vacuum is what's currently limiting progress; we don't want it to go too far above 10^-5 Torr for fear of sparking. Fortunately there's not a lot to measure before delivering beam (¹⁸F to TUDA at its new location in the ISAC-II hall). We'll have a better idea of how things are going tomorrow morning. In the meantime, stable beam tuning to the experiment is underway. – Morton

16:58, 7 May 2009 (PDT)

Maintenance is underway, and is expected to run all the way to 08:30 tomorrow to accommodate a vault access early tomorrow morning. Injection and tuning will follow, so the full scheduled beam currents won't be available until late morning or so.

The ISAC target shielding has been reconfigured for east target operation and stable beam is being tuned from the new target and source. First protons will be requested once the cyclotron tune is sorted out. It will likely take a couple of days to bring the current up to a full 70 µA. We'll have a better idea of how that will go once we get ~5 µA or so on target and see how things outgas. – Morton

19:42, 6 May 2009 (PDT)

We're into the last hour before a 36-hour maintenance. Beam will be going off promptly at 20:30 so that the ISIS crew can get started on replacing the source filament. Vacuum group will be doing work on the Linde cryogenics system as well.

TRILIS development is continuing at ISAC with the last bit of beam available from the current target. That will finish within the next 45 minutes or so so that ISAC Ops can run through the end-of-target checklist before protons go off. We'll start switching from ITW (west target station) operation to ITE (east) this evening. Tomorrow's main job will be moving the target area shielding blocks so that we can put protons into the east station following maintenance. There are several other jobs planned, including the replacement of a power supply needed for the FEBIAD ion source on the new high-power SiC target.

Protons are scheduled to be restored 08:30 Friday with 100 µA down BL1A and 60 µA down BL2C. BL2A will slowly step up to 70—75 µA over a day or two as the new target is brought on-line. – Morton

14:41, 1 May 2009 (PDT) – WEEKEND UPDATE

We're currently delivering ~110 µA to BL1A, ~60 µA to BL2C, and 30 µA to BL2A. The BL2A current is reduced because the running experiment wanted a lower RIB rate; they're studying systematic effects in half-life data for a future high-precision measurement, and wanted to vary (among other things) the detector rates. We'll likely restore the BL2A current to 40 µA for TRILIS development this evening.

The ISAC experiment that's currently running wraps up at 20:30. At that point, ISAC switches to setup for TRILIS development of tin beams. Access to the mass separator room will likely be required at some point. The plan is to get everything set up overnight for development running until next Wednesday. There is target hall work planned for tomorrow to finish connecting TM4 in the east target station, so protons are expected to go off ~09:30 for about six hours. TRILIS development will resume after that.

Otherwise, everything will continue as is until next week. Have a good weekend.–Morton

22:15, 29 April 2009 (PDT)

After a slightly longer-than-expected cyclotron maintenance, and a somewhat shorter-than-expected day of target hall work at ISAC, the cyclotron is delivering ~110 µA to BL1A, ~60 µA to BL2C, and 40 µA to BL2A. This should continue for the foreseeable future.

At ISAC, setup for the next experiment (S1192 at the 8π) is complete – the tune was checked with ²⁷Al and ²⁶Na is sitting on the source Faraday cup at ISAC while the 8π pumps down. They'll run until Friday evening, then hand over the beam for TRILIS development. A target hall access to finish connecting TM4 (which was safely transferred to ITE this afternoon) is planned for Saturday. –Morton

20:18, 27 April 2009 (PDT)

The cyclotron is currently delivering ~110 µA to BL1A, ~60 µA to BL2C, and 40 µA to BL2A. ISAC is delivering ¹¹²Ag to the 8π (experiment S984) while SuperNanogan development continues. No changes are expected overnight.

ISAC will switch to CSB development tomorrow morning; this will run until Wednesday's scheduled maintenance. That will be a long day. TM4 was moved to the east target station and back to the hot cell last week after it clipped the rim of the target station during installation, damaging the RIB shutter and the intermediate plate on top of the vacuum vessel. The module has been repaired, but the plate can't be cleaned up until protons go off on Wednesday. This is expected to delay the move of TM4 back to ITE by ~4 hours. We expect to get TM4 under rough vacuum by the end of the day, but we'll still need another ~6 hours later in the week to make all of the service connections.

On the cyclotron side, Wednesday's "maintenance if required" looks as though it will be required – a number of job requests have been submitted, totalling 4—5 hours of work. The list will be finalized tomorrow. – Morton

23:04, 24 April 2009 (PDT) – WEEKEND UPDATE

Everybody's taking beam this weekend – the cyclotron is currently delivering ~110 µA to BL1A, ~60 µA to BL2C, and 40 µA to BL2A. This should continue as is until Monday.

At ISAC we are (finally) delivering ¹¹²Ag to the 8π for experiment S984. They'll run with this until at least Monday, and possibly until their run ends Tuesday morning. Off-line, SuperNanogan development is continuing for the next week or so. No changes are expected over the weekend. –Morton

15:41, 23 April 2009 (PDT)

The cyclotron is currently delivering ~100 µA to BL1A and ~50 µA to BL2C. BL2A is off; TM4 was transferred back to the ISAC hot cell earlier today, but the mass separator room is still open for TRILIS work. Once that's complete, BL2A will be ramped back up to 40 µA as scheduled.

Beam development and setup for the upcoming experiment at ISAC (S984) didn't get very far last night. Startup (following yesterday's maintenance) was delayed by problems with the nuclear ventilation system. As a result, BL2A tuning and target scans weren't finished until about 23:00. It was after midnight by the time that things were set up for Ag beam development at the ISAC yield station, and that had to be suspended this morning for the target module move. Development work, for beam delivery to S984 tonight, will continue once protons are restored. – Morton

16:12, 22 April 2009 (PDT)

Maintenance day is wrapping up. ISIS tuning is underway, and we're just waiting for a proton enable on BL2A. The plan is to restore the proton beam and deliver beam to BL1A, BL2C, and BL2A overnight (and until next week).

Tonight should see the development of laser-ionized silver beams at ISAC. Before that, a ²⁶Na signal at the ISAC yield station will be used as a diagnostic for a proton scan of the target. Setup to the next experiment (S984, a decay study of ^112,110Ag at the 8π) will take place tomorrow with the experiment scheduled to start tomorrow evening.

As part of today's maintenance activities, TM4 was transferred back to the east target station. Unfortunately, the RIB shutter on the module will not open. TM4 may have to be transferred back to the hot cell tomorrow (which will take several hours and affect our ability to get TM4 ready to start in two weeks as planned). A decision will be made by ~11:00 tomorrow. – Morton

16:14, 20 April 2009 (PDT)

Work is continuing to bring BL2C on-line. In the meantime, the cyclotron is continuing to deliver ~100 µA to BL1A and 40 µA to BL2A. This should continue until Wednesday's scheduled maintenance.

At ISAC, the TACTIC detector test finished yesterday at ~10:30; SuperNanogan development is now underway. On-line, TRINAT is continuing to take ^86mRb. They'll run until Wednesday morning and may not bother with ^90mRb at all.

We will be switching to ⁸³Rb for release measurements before protons go off Wednesday morning. TRINAT has agreed to give up the beam at 07:30 to accommodate that and to allow for BL2A to be taken off-line earlier than 08:30 if necessary. We would like to get an early start to the target hall work as there's a fair bit of it this week. – Morton

15:31, 17 April 2009 (PDT) – WEEKEND UPDATE

No real changes from yesterday – the cyclotron is still delivering 100 µA down BL1A and 40 µA down BL2A with BL2C off-line. Work is continuing to try to bring BL2C back on-line for the weekend. Things should run like this through the weekend.

TACTIC is back taking ¹²C from OLIS after venting to change what was in their target chamber earlier today. They'll run until Sunday morning, at which time SuperNanogan development is scheduled to start. ^86mRb is being delivered to TRINAT; they'll take either ^86mRb or ^90mRb until next Wednesday morning. – Morton

17:52, 16 April 2009 (PDT)

The cyclotron is running, delivering 100 µA to BL1A and 40 µA to BL2A. BL2C was getting ~50 µA earlier in the day as well, but is currently off-line because of problems with the target cooling water resistivity. That will be looked at tomorrow. Otherwise things should run much as they are (with BL2C back on-line) through to next week.

Stable beam from OLIS has been set up to TACTIC for detector tests. These will continue into the weekend. Yield measurements of Rb isotopes are currently underway in preparation for the upcoming TRINAT run; setup for that experiment will take place as soon as the yield measurements are finished. Once that's done, TRINAT will take beam (radioactive Rb isotopes) until next Wednesday's scheduled maintenance. – Morton

16:06, 15 April 2009 (PDT)

We had a late start to today's scheduled 24-hour maintenance so that TIGRESS could wrap up their measurements with ¹¹Be. Beam has been off since about 10:30 for an ISIS filament change. The cyclotron should be back up and running this evening. The plan is tune the machine, BL1A, and BL2C overnight then bring BL2A back online at 08:30 tomorrow morning, as scheduled.

On the ISAC side, TM4 was moved to the hot cell for a target change. OLIS was switched to ¹²C for TACTIC; ISAC Ops have been setting up the ISAC-I accelerators since. TACTIC is scheduled to get beam for six shifts starting tomorrow, but we're going to try to get beam tuned through their target chamber tonight. Tomorrow will be taken up with yield measurements of Rb isotopes in preparation for a TRINAT run (S1127). The experiment is scheduled to start Friday morning, but we've asked that they be ready to take RIB tomorrow night just in case. – Morton

18:35, 14 April 2009 (PDT)

BL1A startup didn't go as planned last night because of a problem with the ISIS slits. As a result, today was an impromptu maintenance day in the hopes of getting the things requiring vault access out of the way. We've restored 40 µA to ISAC and will run BL2A as the sole user overnight, then shut down for an ISIS filament change tomorrow morning. Protons may be available by midnight or so tomorrow; the plan is to work on BL1A and machine tuning until Thursday morning, then bring ISAC back online as scheduled.

At ISAC, stable beam is being tuned through the TIGRESS chamber while the low-energy section is scaled to 22.44 keV for ¹¹Be. We'll switch over to RIB this evening, then run ¹¹Be to TIGRESS overnight. There has been a request to switch to ²³Na just before the proton beam goes off tomorrow morning; ISAC Ops will coordinate this with TIGRESS and the Main Control Room. – Morton

22:33, 10 April 2009 (PDT) – EASTER WEEKEND UPDATE

PIF is finished for the time being, and the BL1A shielding blocks have been restored. Otherwise, everything is as it was yesterday. TIGRESS will continue to run at ISAC until Monday evening, at which point BL1A startup will begin.

For future reference: We probably won't issue updates on weekends and holidays unless something happens that would affect beam delivery. Current operating conditions can be inferred from the MCR and ISAC logs. – Morton

13:49, 9 April 2009 (PDT) – EASTER WEEKEND UPDATE

PIF is continuing at < 1µA while 40 µA go to ISAC for setup of the next experiment. Shielding blocks are still being replaced on BL1A with the goal of bringing beam into the Meson Hall Monday night. BL1A startup is scheduled to begin 20:30 Monday and continue during Tuesday's day shift. Meson Hall channel rates will be needed.

TIGRESS will take ¹⁰Be over the weekend (experiment S1209). The mass change and TRILIS setup are complete, with the beam parked on IMS:FC14. The accelerator tune to TIGRESS is still being worked on, but we should be able to switch over to RIB this afternoon. S1209 will continue until 20:30 Monday.

We're not scheduled to deliver RIB during BL1A startup, so BL2A will be limited to 20 µA overnight Monday. BL2A will go off completely by 07:00 Tuesday for Target Hall work. It should be available again by 14:30. – Morton

15:04, 8 April 2009 (PDT)

The cyclotron is currently delivering 40 µA to ISAC and < 1 µA to PIF. This will continue over the weekend. The BL1A shielding blocks are being put back in the hopes of bringing BL1A online Monday night.

At ISAC, ¹¹Be is still going to β-NMR. They'll run until tomorrow morning, at which point we'll start tuning ¹⁰Be for TIGRESS. Sophia and Marco are tuning ²⁰Ne through the ISAC-II linac to TIGRESS in preparation for the switch to RIB tomorrow. TIGRESS will run until BL1A startup on Monday evening. – Morton

22:29, 7 April 2009 (PDT)

In case you're wondering: We're trying to come up with a way to give an overview of the current and near-term state of beam delivery at the lab. The ISAC and MCR logs are great for record-keeping, but they're not well-suited to looks into the future. What we want to do is provide staff and experimenters with a sort of "weather report" for the next few days so that they know not only what's going on, but what we're hoping to accomplish from a beam delivery standpoint.

The format will change as we figure out what we actually need to post. In the meantime, feel free to forward comments. – Morton

21:56, 7 April 2009 (PDT)

Right now, the cyclotron is delivering 40 µA to ISAC and < 1 µA to PIF. There's no maintenance scheduled for tomorrow, so things should continue like this through the weekend.

At ISAC, ¹¹Be is being delivered to β-NMR for a polarizer test. Sophia is setting up the accelerators with ²⁰Ne for this weekend's TIGRESS ¹⁰Be run. Tomorrow should be more of the same, with stable beam tuning through the TIGRESS vacuum chamber in the afternoon or evening. We'll switch to delivering ¹⁰Be to TIGRESS on Thursday. – Morton