Plenary Talk: Overview of the LANSCE Accelerator Modernization Project (LAMP)

The Los Alamos Neutron Scattering Center (LANSCE) accelerator concurrently accelerates two beam species, H+ and H-, and delivers beams to five separate user stations. 800 MeV H-beams are delivered to the slow (Lujan center) and fast (WNR) neutron scattering centers at 20 Hz and 100 beam pulses per second, respectively; the Ultra-Cold Neutron (UCN) research and proton radiography (pRad) facilities receive 800-MeV H- beams in an “on-demand” fashion. The Isotope Production Facility (IPF) receives 100-MeV H+ (protons) at 100 pulses per second, accelerated concurrently with H- beam for WNR.

While major subsystems of the LANSCE accelerator complex, such as radiofrequency (RF) power sources, have been replaced and upgraded over the years, the accelerator components themselves – such as the Cockcroft-Walton (C-W) 750-keV injectors and the 100-MeV drift-tube linac (DTL) tanks – are original, and are experiencing increasing failure rates. In-kind replacements for many of the original components, such as the two C-Ws, are no longer available, and repairing elements such as DTL tanks can be complex and challenging, if even feasible. The LANSCE Accelerator Modernization Project (LAMP) will replace the initial sections of LANSCE, from sources through the end of the 100-MeV drift-tube linac. We present a brief introduction to the LANSCE accelerator complex and the overall scope of LAMP, review the conceptual design, and discuss plans for technology maturation.

Dr. John Lewellen is a particle accelerator physicist, with a Ph.D. in Applied Physics granted by Stanford University in 1997. His research has spanned a range of scales, from individual components for accelerators, to novel approaches to particle beam manipulation and control, to design of facility-scale X-ray free-electron lasers. Dr. Lewellen joined Los Alamos in 2012, and has served as a research scientist, acting deputy group leader for the Accelerators and Electrodynamics group, and chief scientist for the Accelerator Operations and Technology division. Over his career to date, Dr. Lewellen has published several hundred publications, given multiple invited talks, and has been granted 14 patents. He is presently serving as the Technical Director of the LANSCE Accelerator Modernization Project (LAMP).