October 15, an H Ion Source, the first accelerator component at the China Spallation Neutron Source (CSNS), was installed in the tunnel, marking an important milestone for the CSNS project.
More than three hundred scientists, technicians and officials joined the installation ceremony to witness this landmark moment for the nation’s biggest science facility, which was approved in China’s Twelfth Five-year Plan. The installation of the H Ion Source means that the installation of facilities has officially begun. Following the installation of the H Ion Source, the RFQ accelerator and linear accelerator are scheduled for installation soon.
The H Ion Source is the starting point of the accelerator at CSNS and is responsible for producing beam with high quality and excellent stability, which plays a key role in the performance and efficiency of the whole spallation neutron source. Scientists started commissioning of this facility two years ago in Dongguan University of Technology to ensure that the facility would meet all the design specifications.
The China Spallation Neutron Source is an accelerator-based neutron source, part of the Institute of High Energy Physics, built at Dongguan in Guangdong province - the first major scientific facility in south China. The project was approved in principle by the Chinese Central Government in 2005; construction started in May 2012, and the accelerator is scheduled for operation in 2018. The source contains a proton fast cycling synchrotron fed by a linear accelerator. Short (<500ns) pulses of 1.63x1013 1.6 GeV protons are extracted from the synchrotron 25 times a second; these pulses strike a tungsten target to produce energetic neutrons, which are reduced to scientifically-interesting energies by a variety of moderators.
Installation of the H Ion Source