First beam circulation in Booster is obtained!
News, 19 December 2020
Today, on 19 December 2020 at 7:50 PM, a single-charged helium ions beam was successfully injected for the first time from the Linear Heavy Ion Accelerator (HILac) into the new superconducting synchrotron Booster of the NICA collider. Several hundred beam turns in the Booster ring were obtained.
Circulation adjustment of He1+ ions beam with energy of 3,2 MeV/nucleon is underway now.
Deputy Director of the Laboratory of High Energy Physics JINR Andrey Butenko commented on these significant results, “Stable beam circulation in the synchrotron’s chamber after injection was obtained with design parameters of all major systems. It was not necessary to employ the correction system of magnetic field errors to achieve this mode. This demonstrates the highest quality of production and installation of complex equipment of the superconducting magnetic system of the Booster.”
Director of the VBLHEP JINR, Leader of the NICA Project Vladimir Kekelidze congratulated participants of the project:
Dear colleagues,
I am glad to congratulate you on the implementation of the most significant stage of the creation of the Institute’s flagship project “The NICA complex”. On 19 December 2020, a circulating beam was obtained in the Booster synchrotron, the first cyclic accelerator of the project created from scratch. The technological run of the Booster, the launch of which took place on 20 November at a solemn ceremony during the visit of the Russian Prime Minister to our Institute, has reached its logical and important stage: the helium ion beam circulates in the ring of the accelerator. It should be noted that this stage was reached exactly on the planned day scheduled in the programme of the technological run at the Booster, and it was not necessary to use the additional time reserved for this aim. First of all, it is a great and well-deserved success of the Accelerator Department of our Laboratory, which was preceded by years of hard and dedicated work.
I express gratitude to all the employees who made this wonderful present for the new year by their talent and hard work! I congratulate all of you and wish you a good mood, great creative success, and new bright achievements!
Beam circulation. Each peak of the blue ray is one revolution of the beam in the Booster’s ring.
Readout of a non-contact electrostatic beam detector (pickup) with peaks of the beam passage at each circle
Operation journal
Photos by Alexander Filippov, VBLHEP JINR