SSRLUO Executive Committee Meeting Minutes

Meeting Notes: June 18, 1998

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Attendees: P. Allen, S. Barrett, J. Bilello, B. Clemens, J. Johnson, D. McKay, D. Segel, R. Stevens, B. de Vos, J. Wong
Absent: D. Shuh, H. Thompson

Director's Presentation (K. Hodgson)

Keith Hodgson announced that he has accepted the position of Director of SSRL effective July 1, 1998. Hodgson gave a detailed update on SSRL operations and development in FY98. Highlights of director's talk include:

• SPEAR has an average uptime of 96% which is quite a significant accomplishment given all the simultaneous efforts with the SPEAR3 and LCLS projects.
• James Safranek has accepted a position at SSRL and will be working with the accelerator group on the SPEAR3 project.
• MAR 345 failure led to a loss of two weeks on beamtime on beamline 9-1 due to the unavailability of a back-up detector. Two back-up machines are on order to prevent reoccurrence of this problem
• First light in beamline 11-1 is anticipated in the fall of 1999.
• Peter Stefan, formerly of the Photon Factory and NSLS, will be joining the staff and working on beamline 11-2.
• A new protein crystallography faculty position has been authorized. B. Weis is chairing a search committee and hopes to fill the position by year-end. The position will focus on new directions, applications and pushing state-of-the-art.
• The House and Senate Appropriation Committees have modified budgets close the President's FY99 budget. If the President's budget is passed we will be able to aggressively continue beamline upgrades and SPEAR3. While DOE strongly supports the SPEAR3 project it is important to track the budget through committee negotiations. It may be necessary for the SSRL user community to voice their support of BES to congress.
• The LCLS design study has been published. Proceeding with R&D including gun development. FY99 funding is still uncertain.
• In response to a question about the future emphasis on material science at SSRL, Hodgson reassured the committee that materials research would remain strong as evidenced by the arrival of new staff member Martin Greven.
• There is a synchrotron radiation member leaving the SLAC science policy committee. Hodgson solicited nominees for this important position. Members serve a two-year term.

BUDGET REPORT: (J. Streit) Streit reviewed the status of the FY98 budget, as well as the ‘99-'00 budget projections.

SPEAR3: (B. Hettel) Hettel reviewed the status of the SPEAR3 upgrade project. The team is working hard to prepare for the critical design review that will be held at SSRL July 28-30. Hettel presented detailed comparisons of the SPEAR2 and SPEAR3 magnet girders, machine parameters and beam properties. The ability to tap into the unique expertise available at SLAC will be a critical component toward the success of the SPEAR3 upgrade project.

BEAMLINE UPGRADES: (T. Rabedeau)

• Overview: The SSRL beam line modernization program proposes to upgrade the beam lines, controls, and instrumentation as required for 3.0GeV/200mA SPEAR operations and to deliver beams that take maximal advantage of SPEAR3 through improved reliability, enhanced functionality, and increased performance.
• SPEAR3 Accelerator Project: The SPEAR3 project includes funds to upgrade beam line front ends as required to handle the increased power density of SPEAR3 and the relocation of the bend magnet source points. New front ends will be installed on beam lines 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, and 8.
• Base Line Optics Upgrade: As part of an ongoing program that started in 1995, significant fractions of SSRL's yearly capital equipment funds until 2003 will be used to fund major improvements to many of the beam lines. These upgrades include new cooled mirrors for wiggler end stations, new monochromators for all insertion device beam lines featuring double crystal monochromators, a replacement for the beam line 5 Locust monochromator, and improved cooling on a number of other optical components (eg., jumbo monochromator, most monochromator entrance slits, etc.). Additionally, all masks, filters, and windows not rated for 200mA operations will be replaced. Where feasible, the photon position monitors will be upgraded for increased stability and noise reduction. Machine and personnel protection electronics suites will be systematically replaced. Finally, beam line control electronics, computers, and control software will continue to be modernized.
• Beam Line Instrumentation Upgrades: SSRL will seek funding through the competitive proposal process for a series of detector and specialized instrumentation acquisitions. Included on this list are CCD's for large unit cell crystallography, topography, and materials small angle scattering, two ~30 element fast Ge detectors and one Si drift diode array detector for spectroscopy, micro-focus optics for a micro-probe facility, a high magnetic field x-ray scattering facility, and other specialized apparatus.
• Future Enhancements: SSRL will seek funding through the competitive proposal process for replacement of the beam line 4 and 7 electromagnet wigglers with insertion devices that provide twice as many poles yet produce an adequate radiation fan width to serve the existing experimental stations. SSRL will also continue the beam line mask and optics upgrade program to permit further increases in the SPEAR3 stored current above the initial goal of 200mA.
• New Beam Lines: With the completion of SPEAR3, there will be five easily accessible, unused straight sections for insertion device beam line development. Additional insertion device straights and bend magnet sources are available with somewhat greater engineering effort. In addition to the beam lines current under construction, several ideas for new beam lines were presented. These include a 1-4keV undulator beam line for spectroscopy, a vertically polarized wiggler beam line for material science, and a wiggler beam line for production protein crystallography.