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ESRF accelerator sets new record

16-03-2011

The ESRF has logged the longest ever uninterrupted delivery of X-rays to users. From 4 February to 16 March 2011, user experiments received beam with 100% availability. This was during a period of five weeks or 795.5 hours without any interruption except the scheduled weekly maintenance periods. On 16 March 2011, the accelerator had to be stopped for a regular ten-day shutdown.

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Figure 1 shows a plot of the electron current in the storage ring during the 5 weeks of uninterupted user operation. Fluctuations in the stored beam are produced by the periodic reinjection of electrons to boost the storage ring current to the nominal value. This occurs three times per day in the standard “7/8 +1” filling mode. The last two weeks saw the X-ray source in 16-bunch mode, which produces a stroboscopic beam specifically for time-resolved experiments..

This record was achieved thanks to close cooperation of many ESRF staff in the Accelerator and Source Division with their colleagues particularly from computing, safety, electronics and infrastructure. 

Plot of the storage ring current during five weeks of uninterrupted delivery

Figure 1. Plot of the storage ring current during five weeks of uninterrupted delivery.

 

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