Dan Berkovits, SOREQ NRC
SARAF phase-I p/d SC linac and liquid lithium target commissioning
Argonne Physics Division Seminar - 11 Jan 2010

The Soreq Applied Research Accelerator Facility, SARAF, is currently under construction at Soreq NRC. SARAF is based on a continuous wave, proton/deuteron RF superconducting linear accelerator with energy up to 40 MeV and 2 mA. Phase I of the linac consists of a 20 keV/u ECR ion source, a 4-rod RFQ (1.5 MeV/u), a superconducting module housing 6 half-wave resonators and 3 superconducting solenoids, a diagnostic plate and a beam dump. Phase II will include 5 additional superconducting modules. The RFQ is in routine operation with full power protons beam since 2008 and deuterons at low duty cycle. Proton and deuteron beams have been accelerated through the superconducting module. These were the first ever ion beams to be accelerated through half-wave resonators. A Liquid-Lithium Target (LiLiT) designed at SARAF Phase-I to withstand intense proton beams (up to 4 mA). The target is built to study nucleosynthesis of heavy elements in stellar environments. Star temperature of ~300 MK (kT~ 25 keV) is simulated in the laboratory by the 7Li(p,n)7Be reaction with protons of average energy ~30 keV above threshold (Ethr= 1.880 MeV). The target is expected to produce neutron intensities up to ~4×1010 s-1, more than one order of magnitude higher than presently available. Recent SARAF Phase-I technologies and commissioning results will be presented.

Argonne Physics Division Seminar Schedule