High beam current operation with beam diagnostics at LIPAc

Abstract

The Linear International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility Prototype Accelerator (LIPAc) is under commissioning in Rokkasho Fusion Institute in Japan and aims to accelerate 125 mA D+ at 9 MeV in Continuous Wave mode for validating the IFMIF accelerator design. To ensure a fine characterization and tuning of the machine many beam diagnostics are installed spanning from injector to the beam dump. The beam operations in 1.0 ms pulsed D+ at 5 MeV were successfully completed with a low power beam dump in 2019. Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, the crucial transition to a new LINAC configuration was also finalized to enable operation in 1.0 ms — CW D+ at 5 MeV with the high-power beam dump. The 1st beam operation of the configuration was carried out in 2021. The experiences and challenges encountered during these beam campaigns are described in this paper.