Minutes of GUI meeting 16th November 2004

Chairman: Karsten Riisager

Scientific Secretary: Mats Lindroos

Present: Juha Äystö, Peter Butler, Luis Fraile, Roland Garoby, Mark Huyse (replacing Piet van Duppen), Jacques Lettry, Marek Lewitowicz, Mats Lindroos, Oliver Kester (replacing Dieter Habs), Mats Lindroos, Thomas Otto

Excused: Thomas Nilsson (invited for point 9) , Björn Jonson

1. Minutes of last meeting

2. Status of CERN injector upgrades (RG)

  • Roland Garoby gave a presentation (see file below) on the present upgrade plans for the CERN injectors. The proposals made by the HIP project and the studies pursued with e.g. the HIPPI EU JRA and the CERN SPL project all target developments that would satisfy the needs of nuclear physics for e.g. a facility like EURISOL. However, he stressed that strong lobbying would be necessary to achieve an upgrade in line with these needs. Other communities are lobbying for alternative scenarios targeting higher energies and not necessarily the high power at low energy required for the future of nuclear physics at CERN. The most urgent issue in short term is an upgrade of the PS Booster for a shorter accelerator cycle. The chairman, Peter Butler, will (with technical input from Mats Lindroos) draft a letter for Steve Myers on the importance of this upgrade for the ISOLDE facility.

3. Priorities for target & ion source development (LF, JL)

  • The progress on target & ion source R&D was summarized by Jacques Letty and Luis Fraile. Luis reported on the work done on items listed in the upgrade groups priority lists. An updated version of the priority lists (updated priority 1,2,3 lists) will be published as soon as possible
  • Jacques gave an oral report on the work undertaken by the ISOLDE target and front-end section in 2004:
    • The section has done shock wave measurements with a Laser vibrometer on ISOLDE converters and one element of the CNGS graphite target. Six M10 × 30 mm bolts holding the insulation ceramics of the FE#4 quadrupoles were found uscrewed. It is of fundamental importance to understand the origin and nature of this vibrations to improve the design of future installation.
    • A front-end with ceramics insulator and metallic sealing will be installed at GPS next year.
    • A new type of sintered SiC target material from TRIUMF was tested at ISOLDE last year. The F yields and the impurities spectra were measured.
    • Work is being done on an alkali suppression ionization cavity for a RILIS unit. A prototype produced and tested off-line. The measurement of the expected lower RILIS efficiency is pending.
    • A detailed study has been started to calculate the total production, release and decay of radioisotopes in all ISOLDE target units and in particular how this activity is dissipated in e.g. front-ends and pumps during standard operation in view of the radioactive waste characterization required by Swiss authorities..
    • The section has produced new drawings stored in the CERN EDMS system for more than half of the standard ISOLDE target and ion source units.
    • A study - modeling will be started in 2005 on the efficiencies of ISOLDE plasma ion-sources. The goal is to address unexplained fluctuations of efficiencies.
    • The section will resume the work on the two types of mono ECR sources (the ISOLDE adaptation of the GANIL MiniMono ECR source and the ISOLDE source with a pill box cavity design and electromagnetic coils).
    • Replacement of elastomer vacuum seals on the ISOLDE with all-metal seals (duration 2 years).
  • Mark Huyse asked if anything would be done on the proposal to use a quartz transfer line for the ISOLDE target and ion source units. He stressed that several experiments were asking for such a development. Jacques answered that this development was undertaken within the TARGISOL study. He proposed asking Ulli for a status report on this project.
  • Mark Huyse also asked what the status was of the PbBi experiment which was done together with PSI. Jacques answered that measurements had been done with a ISOLDe standard unit, however, a larger target unit is required for further experiments. Discussions are in progress on how this can be realized.

4. Status of REX consolidation (ML)

  • After a decision in the ATC the integration is run in project form with the technical coordinator in charge. The work is progressing well and the first run has just been completed successfully.  In bullet from the situation can be summarized as follows:

    • It is clear that organizational changes are needed to better respond to the “peak” need of staff during setting-up and running.
    • Not all areas of AB responsibility have yet been addressed, most notably the beam instrumentation needs.
    • The AB-PO, -CO, -ABP and -RF groups are doing a great job and the hope is to already this shutdown change large parts of the PO and CO equipment to CERN standards (and to build up a pool of spares).
    • The AB-ABP group is responsible for the very complex low energy part. The engineer hired for this job is doing a great job but he lacks technical support and spends excessive hours doing technician work himself.
  • The AB management will hold a meeting to discuss the present status of REX integration and decide about required actions in the coming week.

5. Priorities for REX low-energy development (LF, ML)

  • Mats Lindroos presented a priority list for R&D at the low energy stage at REX-ISOLDE (see file below) prepared by Fredrik Wenander and Pierre Delahaye.  The upgrade group approved the priority list with the following comments:
    • Thomas Otto asked if the installation of a recovery line of vacuum exhausts to the recovery tanks shouldn't be done with higher priority.
    •  Mark Huyse asked if the REX team had any proposal for a beam observation station just before Miniball. Peter Butler stressed that it is a device that should be under the miniball collaborations responsibility.
    • Marek Lewitowicz pointed out that there are commercial beam instrumentation available. These devices have foil windows for the beam which limits the usefulness of them for heavier ions. However, one type of commercial instruments have been successfully used at the SPIRAL facility.

6. Schemes for REX LINAC upgrade (OK)

  • Oliver Kester summarized the possible upgrade options (see file below) for REX ISOLDE using the existing technology. The general principle behind the upgrade proposals is to make better use of the existing RF amplifiers as they are very expensive. It should be possible to reach some 5.5 MeV/u for a moderate investment of approximately 1.6 MEuros, that includes the re-use of a renovated CERN linac amplifier. For further upgrades the proposal is to use e.g. IHEP (Russia) special type of RFQ DTL to go in 3-4 steps to 10 MeV/u. The plan is to re-contact our Russian colleagues at IHEP to discuss a collaboration on the upgrade with a common ISTC grant application.

7. EU projects:

  • EURISOL overview (ML)
    • The EURISOL contract will probably start 1 February 2005. The distribution of money and posts internally at CERN has been done. All the target R&D will be done in the AB-ATB group, the beam preparation work will be done in the ISOLDE physics group and the safety studies in the SC (former TIS division). The beta-beam work will also be done in the AB-ATB group. The job advertisements have been prepared and the target post financed by CERN to match the EU contribution is already advertised on the CERN ERT pages.
  • EURONS overview (PB)
    • The EURONS contract will start 1 January 2005. The job descriptions for the two time limited staff posts in the ISOLDE physics group have been prepared and will be advertised as soon as possible. The fellow, Pierre Delahaye, financed by the three JRAs (Chargebreeding, INTAG and TRAPSPEC) will start 1 of February 2005.

8. Status of TDR (TN)

  • Encouraged by the present CERN Director-General and the Chief Scientific Officer the ISOLDE community is preparing a technical design report for the upgrade of the facility. The TDR will be published in 2005 and covers approximately the period 2005-2009. This is in line with recommendations made by the CERN DG and his deputy during their visit to ISOLDE in October 2004. Thomas Nilsson is the appointed Editor of this report but he could not participate in the meeting. He had prepared a presentation on the status of the report (see file below) which was presented by Mats Lindroos. The plan is to have the TDR published in spring 2005. A first milestone for draft contributions has been set for 1 December 2004.

9. Strategy for CERN REX project (ML, PB)

  • The PH department has encouraged the ISOLDE community to submit a project request for February 2005 for the upgrade of the facility. Mats and Peter are preparing a short project description in close collaboration with Thomas Nilsson. The project description will be submitted to the AB and PH departments for approval before presentation for the ISOLDE community and CERN management.

10. AOB

  • Juha Äystö, the INTC chairman, reported that he will propose an INTC meeting in 2005 dedicated to the future of the ISOLDE and INTC programs at CERN. He asked Mats and Peter to make proposals for a suitable timing and place.

Minutes by Mats Lindroos, 8/12/04