Construction of Fermilab's ILC Test Area moves forward

Getting ready to house the first crymodules: Fermilab's ILCTA.

As ILC research and development efforts ramp up around the world, Fermilab is preparing to make an important contribution. Engineers and technicians at the lab's new ILC Test Area (ILCTA) have worked hard all summer creating a state-of-the-art cryomodule test facility, and the infrastructure is almost complete.

Located at the end of an old accelerator beam line, the ILCTA has taken up residence in the New Muon Lab (NML). The former inhabitant of the building was the 2000-ton Chicago cyclotron magnet, which had lain dormant for many years. After removing this behemoth, workers cleared out the building and sealed the floors, making way for the new construction that took place over the past few months.

The most striking feature inside the ILCTA is the 50-meter-long cave needed to house the test equipment. Construction of this mammoth structure is nearly finished except for a few coats of paint and the roof, which will be added once a crane lowers the machines into place. Tenants of the cave will include accelerator components, the cryomodules and associated support systems. When assembly is complete, a radio frequency gun and photo-injector mechanism will fire a beam of electrons through the cryomodules to create a miniature version of the ILC.

Users from around the world will then be able to use the apparatus to conduct a number of ILC R&D related tests. Cryomodules are a highly complicated technology, so working out any bugs on a small scale is important. Furthermore, the ILCTA will test different kinds of cryomodules to determine which is best for the ILC. Other purposes include testing control systems, diagnostics, and instrumentation.

Aside from the basic infrastructure, the other key element of the test facility is its cryogenic system. The cryomodules in the ILCTA must be kept at temperatures near absolute zero to operate properly. While a series of three cryosystem phases are planned, the first has already been completed. Engineers and technicians recently installed the first refrigerator along with its related equipment. Not quite your typical icebox, this large cylindrical device will be sufficient to provide cooling to the first cryomodule. Other developments around the ILCTA include installation of the electronics racks along the outside of the cave and the freshly refurbished control room.

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-- J. Bryan Lowder

From Chicago Tribune,
August 20, 2007

'X' marks Fermilab future

A proposed $500 million particle accelerator could help it land an even bigger project

Fermilab is floating plans for a new $500 million particle accelerator in hopes of paving the way for a much larger project and shoring up the lab's fragile position in the world of high-energy physics.

A road map for the machine, dubbed "Project X" for now, was quietly disclosed last week in the lab's daily newsletter. The new device would become the biggest project at the Batavia facility after the scheduled shutdown in 2009 of the Tevatron, currently the world's most powerful accelerator studying the fundamental structure of the universe.

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From Northeastern University press release,
August 20, 2007

Northeastern University Professor Darien Wood Elected Spokesperson of DZero Experiment at Fermilab

On August 19, Northeastern University Associate Professor of Physics Darien Wood assumed the position of Spokesperson for the DZero Experiment, which is located at the Department of Energy's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, IL. The DZero Experiment, well-known for its pursuit of the Higgs particle, explores the fundamental nature of matter. The experiment uses the world's premier high-energy accelerator, the Tevatron particle collider at Fermilab, to answer the question, "What is the universe made of?" DZero scientists sift through the debris of proton-antiproton collisions produced at the highest available energies and search for subatomic clues that reveal the character of the building blocks of the universe. The DZero collaboration consists of about 600 physicists from 79 institutions in 19 countries.

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