ORNL, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA
The Spallation Neutron Source, a neutron scattering user facility based on a 1.4MW proton accelerator, has been in operation since 2006. The accelerator beam diagnostics were designed, in large degree, with commissioning unknowns in mind. Today we face new challenges to support stable 1MW beam power operations and accelerator upgrade for even higher power. The beam instrumentation problems span a range from mitigating obsolescence of many electronics to developing new techniques for measuring beam parameters important for high power operation. This report describes several examples of the ongoing work: development of new electronics for Beam Position Monitor (BPM) and Beam Loss Monitor (BLM) systems to replace the aging designs; development of large dynamic range and high precision beam phase space characterization tools to facilitate the model based accelerator tuning.
