FNAL is completing construction of the Integrable Optics Test Accelerator (IOTA) at the Fermilab Accelerator Science and Technology (FAST) facility. In Spring-Summer 2016, its photoinjector was commissioned and several beam experiments with 50 MeV electrons had been carried out. In 2017, the 1.3 GHz SRF cryomodule (CM2) will boost the energy further to 150-300 MeV range, as needed for injection in the IOTA ring. The 300 MeV beam commissioning will again be followed by a period of beam studies. Installation of the ring itself progresses fast and the first circulating electron beam in IOTA is expected in early 2018. That will make IOTA available for the first advanced nonlinear dynamics studies on integrable optics and other critical one-of-a-kind unique quantum optical experiments. Commissioning of the IOTA RFQ-based 70 MeV/c proton/ion injector in 2019 will open the era of the advanced experiments and studies of beam dynamics in high-intensity proton beams, including the space-charge effects and space-charge compensation.
The Fermilab team has taken great care in a flexible design of the IOTA ring allowing mounting of very special and characteristically unique experiments that will demand flexibility of optics and rapid re-configuration of its set-up as demanded by experiments. Many external collaborators from the academic and national laboratory communities within US and internationally joined us in shaping the accelerator R&D program where this special community will have a vested interest and will direct and own the experimental program.
This annual meeting - 5th in series - will allow the participants to review
the status of the facility, share the results of the first studies and tests,
evaluate the progress toward key advanced beam physics experiments at FAST/IOTA and to develop further the scientific program of the facility with full synergistic support from the community, helping and enhancing the national and international developments collaboratively. Fermilab and associated partnering universities and groups are motivated and committed to work hard to generate the necessary collaborative support to ensure the success of the program.
Other events happening at Fermilab:
June 7: 50th Anniversary Symposium and Reception
This daylong symposium will highlight 50 years of discovery made possible by Fermilab’s facilities, technology and people. It will also look ahead to the lab’s bright future at the forefront of physics and innovation. The day will conclude with a special reception.
June 8: 50th Annual Users Meeting
For 50 years, Fermilab’s users and employees have converged at the lab annually to discuss the latest physics results from the laboratory’s experimental and theory programs. Topics to be covered at the Users Meeting include the state of the laboratory, collider physics, astroparticle physics, neutrino physics and muon physics. The presentation of the URA Thesis Award and a young scientists’ poster sesion will round out the meeting.