News from the SPARC bunker!

2024 is bringing big news to the SPARC_LAB research facility at LNF.

The upgrade operations identified by the SABINA project (Source of Advanced Beam Imaging for Novel Applications) are continuing. SABINA is a project that aims to create a research infrastructure that can also be used by external users, and it reached the top ranking of the Public Notice “Upgrade of the PNIR’s research infrastructures to raise the innovation rate of the regional productive grid”.

The goal is to guarantee excellent performance with reliable technical systems that will become fundamental tools for external users to carry out different types of measurements in a technological field of reference for the scientific and industrial community for the development of technologies linked to accelerator physics.

The two solenoids that wind the first two sections of the linac which guarantee the confinement of the electron beam during the longitudinal compression operations of the package itself are now being replaced. Each solenoid is now composed of a yoke that contains 13 magnetic coils that provide a solenoidal magnetic field along the beamline. These will be replaced with two similar solenoids, composed of a yoke containing 12 magnetic coils that can be aligned following the mechanical center and magnetic center to improve the acceleration and control performance of the electron beam.

The conclusion will be the preparation of the secondary line which will host the undulators for the THz line, but this will be the subject of subsequent news!

At the moment, thanks to the precious contribution, collaboration and coordination of all the protagonists of the LNF accelerator division, the activities are off to a great start, and we can’t wait to see where they will take us!