Status of the Fets Project

The Front End Test Stand (FETS) under construction at RAL is a demonstrator for front end systems of a future high power proton linac. Possible applications include a linac upgrade for the ISIS spallation neutron source, new future neutron sources, accelerator driven sub-critical systems, high energy physics proton drivers etc. Designed to deliver a 60mA H-minus beam at 3MeV with a 10% duty factor, FETS consists of a high brightness ion source, magnetic low energy beam transport (LEBT), 4-vane 324MHz radio frequency quadrupole, medium energy beam transport (MEBT) containing a high speed beam chopper and non-destructive laser diagnostics. This paper describes the current status of the project and future plans. FRONT END TEST STAND FETS was originally conceived as a chopper beam test facility but has since expanded its objectives to become a generic test stand for high power proton accelerator front end technologies. Applications include but are not limited to ISIS upgrades, future Spallation Neutron Sources, a Neutrino Factory, Muon Collider, Accelerator Driven Sub-critical Systems and Waste Transmuters. FETS has been extensively described elsewhere [1][2]. It consists of an Hion source, magnetic low energy beam transport (LEBT), 324 MHz 4-vane Radio Frequency Quadrupole accelerator (RFQ), medium energy beam transport and chopper line (MEBT) and comprehensive diagnostics. The rest of this paper describes the status and future plans for each component of the test stand.