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Cummings, Mary Anne

Publications and source records attributed to Cummings, Mary Anne.

Simulation study of ion beam used to produce Mo-99

An 820 mA CW positive ion source is being developed to produce Mo-99 using the fusion of deuterium and tritium ion beams on a rotating target to produce neutrons for use in the production of radiopharmaceuticals. The ion source consists of an RF plasma source, a multi-aperture extractor, and 300 kV accelerating column. This paper will describe a simulation study of the beam through the extractor grid and the accelerator to the target. The uniformity of beam distribution on the target is an important aspect of the simulation.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Design of a PIP-II Era Mu2e Experiment

We propose a design of an upgraded Mu2e experiment for the future Fermilab PIP-II era based on the muon collider front end. The consensus is that such an upgrade should provide a factor of 10 increase in the rate of stopping muons in the experimental target. The current Mu2e design is optimized for 8 kW of protons at 8 GeV. The PIP-II upgrade project is a 250-meter-long CW linac capable of accelerating a 2-mA proton beam to a kinetic energy of 800 MeV (total power 1.6 MW). This would significantly improve the Fermilab proton source to enable next-generation intensity frontier experiments. But using this 800 MeV beam poses challenges to the Mu2E experiment. Bright muon beams generated from sources designed for muon collider and neutrino factory facilities have been shown to generate two orders of magnitude more muons per proton than the current Mu2e production target and solenoid. In contrast to the current Mu2e, the muon collider design has forward-production of muons from the target.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Plasma Muon Beam Cooling for HEP

Ionization cooling has the potential to shrink the phase space of a muon beam by a factor of 10⁶ within the muons’ short lifetime (2.2 µs) because the collision frequency in a cooling medium is extremely high compared to conventional beam cooling methods. It has been realized that ionization cooling inherently produces a plasma of free electrons inside the absorber material, and this plasma can have an important effect on the muon beam. In particular, under the right circumstances, it can both improve the rate of cooling and reduce the equilibrium emittance of the beam. This has the potential to improve the performance of muon facilities based on muon cooling; in particular a future muon collider. We describe how this project will integrate Plasma muon beam cooling into both the basic Helical Cooling Channel (HCC) and extreme Parametric-resonance Ionization Cooling (PIC) techniques. This potentially whole new approach to muon cooling has exciting prospects for significantly reduced muon beam emittance.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Design of a PIP-II Era Mu2e Experiment

We present an alternative Mu2e-II production scheme for the Fermilab PIP-II era based on production schemes we devised for muon-collider and neutrino-factory front ends. Bright muon beams generated from sources designed for muon collider and neutrino factory facilities have been shown to generate two orders of magnitude more muons per proton than the current Mu2e production target and solenoid. In contrast to the current Mu2e, the muon collider design has forward-production of muons from the target. Forward production from 8 GeV protons would include high energy antiprotons, pions and muons, which would provide too much background for the Mu2e system. In contrast, the 800 MeV PIP-II beam does not have sufficient energy to produce antiprotons, and other secondaries will be at a low enough energy that they can be ranged out with an affordable shield of ~ 2 meters of concrete.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Development of a Beam Halo Monitor

Our innovative approach is to design the Beam Halo Monitor, where beam induced synchrotron radiation will be used to monitor the beam Halo. This involves an original scheme of light collection using a coronograph for measuring beam halo.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Radiation Robust RF Gas Beam Detector R&D for Intensity Frontier Experiments

A novel radiation robust RF gas beam detector has been demonstrated by using the Main Injector beam at Fermilab. The detector demonstrated a stable signal gain, fast response time, and high radiation resistivity with intense proton beams. The plasma process in the detector is studied to validate the plasma physics model. The result suggests that the detector is applicable for Long Baseline Neutrino Facility at Fermilab. To prepare for the LBNF, a proto type detector will be made and applied for the Neutrino at Main Injector target system. Progress of the project will be given in the presentation.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Nb3Sn Thin Films for the Production of Higher Gradient SRF Cavities at Reduced Cost

High gradient superconducting cavities (SRF) will be needed for future accelerators. The higher gradient can achieve the high energy with fewer cavities. However the accelerating field of niobium cavities is limited by the peak magnetic field on the cavity surface. Cavities coated with Nb3Sn have a significantly larger Hc2 allowing the cavity to achieve a larger gradient. Measurements of Nb3Sn coated cavities have achieved about half the theoretical predicted gradient. It is possible to improve Nb3Sn plated cavity performance.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Nano-engineering of Nb3Sn Thin Films to Improve Wire Performance and Reduce Cost

State-of-the-art Nb3Sn wires have plateaued in the performance of the critical current density Jc. Chemical and geometrical optimization of the wire layout have produced Nb3Sn wires with average Jc(4.2K, 16T) ~ 1,300 A/mm2. A future high energy hadron collider that is being considered to follow the LHC would need larger Jc and be cost effective. The approach to improving the performance of Nb3Sn conductor would be to introduce enhanced flux pinning mechanisms with nano-engineering techniques.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Tunable Q-Factor Gas-Filled RF Cavity

Fermilab is the main institution to produce the most powerful and wide-spectrum neutrino beam. From that respective, a radiation robust beam diagnostic system is a critical element in order to maintain the quality of the neutrino beam. Within this context, a novel radiation-resistive beam profile monitor based on a gas-filled RF cavity has been proposed. The goal of this measurement is to study a tunable Q-factor RF cavity to determine the accuracy of the RF signal as a function of the quality factor. Specifically, the measurement error of the Q-factor in the RF calibration is investigated. Then, the RF system will be improved to minimize signal error.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Intense Neutrino Source Front End Beam Diagnostics System R&D

We overview the front end beam diagnostic system R&D to prepare operation of a multi-MW proton beam for intensity frontier Neutrino experiments. One of critical issues is shorter life time of a detector with higher beam intensity due to radiation damage. We show a possible improvement of the existing ion chamber based detector, and a study of a conceptually new radiation-robust detector which is based on a gas-filled RF resonator.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

MuSim, a Graphical User Interface for Multiple Simulation Programs

MuSim is a new user-friendly program designed to interface to many different particle simulation codes, regardless of their data formats or geometry descriptions. It presents the user with a compelling graphical user interface that includes a flexible 3-D view of the simulated world plus powerful editing and drag-and-drop capabilities. All aspects of the design can be parametrized so that parameter scans and optimizations are easy. It is simple to create plots and display events in the 3-D viewer (with a slider to vary the transparency of solids), allowing for an effortless comparison of different simulation codes. Simulation codes: G4beamline, MAD-X, and MCNP; more coming. Many accelerator design tools and beam optics codes were written long ago, with primitive user interfaces by today's standards. MuSim is specifically designed to make it easy to interface to such codes, providing a common user experience for all, and permitting the construction and exploration of models with very little overhead. For today's technology-driven students, graphical interfaces meet their expectations far better than text-based tools, and education in accelerator physics is one of our primary goals.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗