PROGRAM
AREA OVERVIEW
Through fundamental research,
scientists have found that all physical matter is composed of apparently point-like
particles, called leptons and quarks. These
constituents of matter were created following the "big-bang" which
originated our universe and they are components of every object that exists
today. We also understand a great
deal about the four basic forces of nature which we experience:
electromagnetism, the strong nuclear force, the weak nuclear force, and gravity.
For example, in the past we have learned that the electromagnetic and
weak forces are two components of a single force, called the electro-weak force.
This unification of forces is analogous to the unification in the
mid-nineteenth century of electric and magnetic forces into
electromagnetism. History shows
that, over a period of many years, the understanding of electromagnetism has led
to many practical applications that form the technical basis of modern society.
The goal of the Department's
High Energy Physics (HEP) program is to provide mankind with new insights into
the fundamental nature of energy and matter and the forces that control them.
This program is a major component of the Department's fundamental
research mission. Such fundamental
research provides the necessary foundation that enables the Nation to advance
its scientific knowledge and technological capabilities, to advance its
industrial competitiveness, and possibly to discover new and innovative
approaches to its energy future.
Experimental research in HEP is
largely performed by university scientists using particle accelerators located
at major laboratories in the U.S.
and abroad. Under the HEP program,
the Department operates the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab)
near Chicago, IL
and the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) near San Francisco, CA. Further, the Department has a
significant role in the Large Hadron Collider project under construction at the
CERN laboratory in Switzerland. The Tevatron at Fermilab is
currently the world's highest energy accelerator.
SLAC also provides unique experimental capabilities.
While much progress has been
made during the past five decades in our understanding of particle physics,
future progress depends to a great degree on the availability of new state-of-the-art
technology for accelerators, colliders, and detectors operating at the high
energy and/or high intensity frontiers.
Within High Energy Physics, the
High Energy Technology subprogram supports the research and development required
to extend relevant areas of technology in order to support the operations of
highly specialized accelerators, colliding beam facilities, and detector
facilities which are essential to the goals of the overall High Energy Physics
program. The Department of Energy
SBIR program provides a focused opportunity and mechanism for small businesses
to contribute new ideas and new technologies to the pool of knowledge and
technical capabilities required for continued progress in high energy physics
research, and to turn these novel ideas and technologies into new business
ventures.
4. HIGH-FIELD SUPERCONDUCTOR AND SUPERCONDUCTING MAGNET TECHNOLOGIES FOR
HIGH ENERGY PARTICLE COLLIDERS
The
Department of Energy High Energy Physics program supports a broad research and
development (R&D) effort in the science, engineering, and technology of
charged particle accelerators, storage rings, and associated apparatus.
Advanced R&D is needed in support of this research in high-field
superconductor and superconducting magnet technologies.
This topic addresses only those superconductor and superconducting magnet
development technologies that support dipoles, quadrupoles, and higher order
multipole corrector magnets for use in accelerators, storage rings, and charged
particle beam transport systems. Grant
applications that propose the use of third party resources (such as a DOE
laboratory) must include in the application a letter of certification from an
authorized official of that organization. Grant
applications are sought only in the following subtopics:
a.
High-Field Superconductor Technology—Grant applications are sought for new
or improved materials and related processing techniques for high
critical-current, high critical-field conductors for the production of low
alternating current (AC) loss conductors used in very high-field magnets.
Grant applications for the improvement of starting raw materials are of
particular interest. While
improvements are sought for magnets above 8 Tesla, the engineering goal for the
near future (7 to 10 years) is at least 15 Tesla.
Vacuum requirements in accelerators and storage rings favor operating
temperatures below 20 K. Applications
must demonstrate such property improvements as higher critical-current densities
and higher critical fields, as well as the manageable degradation of these
properties as a function of applied strain.
Advanced conductor fabrication techniques of interest include methods to
utilize high aspect ratio stranded conductors or tape geometries in particle
accelerator applications. Any
proposed process improvements must result in equivalent performance at reduced
cost. Materials of interest include:
niobium-titanium, ternary niobium-titanium alloys, the so-called
"A-15" compounds (e.g., niobium-tin and niobium-aluminum), and oxide
(high temperature) superconductors. Regarding
oxide superconductors, a minimum current density of 1200 A/mm2 (not
cm2) in the superconductor itself and a minimum current density of
250 A/mm2 over a total conductor cross section, at 12 Tesla minimum
and 4.2 K, must be achieved. Grant
applications that address the development of A-15 and oxide superconductors must
physically deliver a sufficient amount of material for winding and testing in
small dipole or quadrupole magnets.
Because high performance niobium-titanium (NbTi) alloys operating above 8 Tesla
appear to be required for focusing quadrupole magnets or for "low
field" graded windings in higher field dipoles, grant applications are
sought for NbTi composite superconductors with properties optimized at the
higher field portion of the short sample curve.
These grant applications must focus on conductors that will be acceptable
for accelerator magnets.
Lastly,
grant applications are sought for innovative insulating materials which would
enable employment of new superconductors, such as the A-15 or oxide types, in
practical devices. Insulating materials must be compatible with high temperature
reactions in the 750-900oC range and must be capable of supporting
high mechanical loads at cryogenic temperatures.
b.
Superconducting Magnet Technology—Grant applications are sought to
develop: (1) improved instrumentation to measure properties (such as local
strain, temperature, and magnetic field) which are directly applicable to the
testing of superconducting magnets; (2) improved current leads based on
high-temperature superconductors for application to high-field accelerator
magnets, which have requirements that include current level at 5 kA or greater,
stability, low heat leak, and good quench performance; (3) alternative designs,
to traditional "cosine theta" dipole and "cosine two-theta"
quadrupole magnets, that may be more compatible with the more fragile A-15 and
the oxide, high-field superconductors; (4)
designs for bent (e.g., bending radius in the range 0.75 to 1.25m) solenoids
(e.g., 2 T, 30 cm inside diameter) with superimposed dipole fields (e.g., 1 T)
for dispersion generation in large emittance beams.; (5) improved industrial
fabrication methods for magnets such as welding and forming; or (6) improved
cryostat and cryogenic techniques.
References:
1.
Breon,
Susan, et al., eds., “Advances in Cryogenic Engineering Materials,” Proceedings
of the Cryogenic Engineering Conference,
Madison,
WI, 2001,
Vol. 47 A & B, New York: American Institute
of Physics
(AIP), 2002.
(ISBN: 0-7354-0059-8)
2.
Cifarelli, L. and Maritato, L., eds., Superconducting
Materials for High Energy Colliders: Proceedings
of the 38th Workshop of the INFN Eloisatron Project, Erice,
Italy, October 19-25, 1999
, River Edge, NJ: World Scientific,
2001. (ISBN: 981-02-4319-7)
3.
Duggan, J. L. and Morgan, I. L., eds., Application of
Accelerators in Research and Industry: Proceedings
of the Sixteenth International Conference on the Application of Accelerators in
Research and Industry, Denton, TX, November 1-5, 2000, New York:
American Institute of Physics, 2001.
(AIP Conference Proceedings No. 576) (ISBN: 0-7354-0015-6) (Available
from Springer-Verlag New York, Inc. Telephone:
800-809-2247 Web site: http://www.springer-ny.com)
4.
Luccio, A. and MacKay,
W., eds., Proceedings of the 1999 Particle Accelerator Conference, New York,
NY, Mar. 27-Apr. 2, 1999, Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers (IEEE), 1999. (ISBN:
0-7803-5575-X)
5.
Mess, K. H., et al., Superconducting
Accelerator Magnets, River Edge, NJ: World
Scientific, 1996. (ISBN:
981-02-2790-6)
6.
“The 1998 Applied
Superconductivity Conference, Palm Desert, CA, September 13-18, 1998
,” IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity, 3 Parts, 9(2), June
1999. (ISSN: 1051-8223)
7.
“The 2000 Applied
Superconductivity Conference, Virginia Beach, VA, September 17-22, 2000,”
IEEE Transactions on Applied
Superconductivity, 3 Parts, 11(1), March 2001.
(ISSN: 1051-8223)
8.
“The 2002 Applied
Superconductivity Conference, Houston,
TX,
August 4-9,
2002
,” IEEE
Transactions on Applied Superconductivity, 3 parts, 13(2), June 2003.
(ISSN: 1051-8223)
5. ADVANCED CONCEPTS AND TECHNOLOGY FOR HIGH ENERGY
ACCELERATORS
The
Department of Energy (DOE) High Energy Physics program supports a broad research
and development (R&D) effort in the science, engineering, and technology of
charged particle accelerators, storage rings, and associated apparatus.
Advanced R&D is needed in support of this program in the following
areas: (1) new concepts for acceleration, (2) novel device and instrumentation
development, (3) inexpensive electron sources, and (4) computer software that
will contribute to overall advances in accelerator technology applicable to high
energy physics research. Relevance
to applications in high energy physics must be explicitly described in the
submitted grant applications. Advanced
accelerator R&D more appropriate to applications in nuclear physics is
specifically excluded from this topic and should be submitted under Topic 15.
Grant applications that propose using resources of a third party (such as
a DOE Laboratory) must include, in the application, a letter of certification
from an authorized official of that organization.
Grant applications are sought only in the following subtopics:
a. New
Concepts for Acceleration—Grant applications are sought to develop new or
improved acceleration concepts. Designs should provide very high gradient
(>100 MeV/m for electrons or >10 MeV/m for protons) acceleration of
intense bunches of particles, or efficient acceleration of intense (>50 mA)
low energy (of order <20 MeV) proton beams.
One possible concept might include the fabrication of accelerator
structures from materials such as Si or SiO2, using integrated
circuit technology; in this case, power sources might include lasers.
For all proposed concepts, stageability, beam stability,
manufacturability, and high wall plug-to-beam power efficiency should be
considered. Grant applications must
address the marketability of any systems, technologies, and devices to be
developed.
b. Novel
Device and Instrumentation Development—Grant applications are sought for
the development of electromagnetic, permanent magnet, or silicon
microcircuit-based charged particle optical elements for particle beam focusing.
Examples include, but are not limited to, dipoles, quadrupoles, higher
order multipole correctors for use in electron linear accelerators, and
solenoids for use in electron-beam or ion-beam sources or for klystron or other
radio frequency amplifier tubes operating at wavelengths from 0.7 to 10 cm. In
these optical elements, permanent magnets or hybrid magnets incorporating
magnetic materials that have very high residual magnetization, radiation
resistance, and thermal stability (low variation of field strength with
temperature) are of particular interest.
Grant
applications are also sought for: (1) novel charged particle beam monitors to
measure the transverse or longitudinal charge distribution or emittance, or
phase-space distributions of small radius (0.1 micrometers to 5 millimeters
diameter), short length (10 micrometers to 10 millimeters) relativistic electron
or ion beams; (2) devices capable of measuring and recording the Schottky or
transition radiation spectrum of these beams (proposed techniques should be
nondestructive or minimally perturbative to the beams monitored and have
computer-compatible readouts); and (3) lasers for laser-accelerator applications
that provide substantial improvements over currently available lasers in one or
more of the following parameters: longer
wavelengths (2 to 2.5 micrometers for use with Si transmissive optics), very
short wavelengths (< 200 nanometers) with low mode numbers (M-squared <
100) and high pulse energy (> 0.1 J) for photo-ionized plasma sources, higher
power, higher repetition rates, or shorter pulse widths.
Grant
applications are sought to develop high density (range of 1018-1020 cm-3), high
repetition rate (10 Hz) pulsed gas jets, capable of producing fan-shaped gas
plumes with long lengths on the centimeter scale and narrow widths of a few
hundred microns. These gas jets are
to be used in laser
Grant
applications are also sought for the development of novel devices and
instrumentation for use in the cooling (transverse and longitudinal emittance
reduction) of muon beams. Approaches of interest include the development of:
concepts or devices for ionization cooling, including emittance exchange
processes; instrumentation for muon cooling channels with muon intensities of 1012
muons/pulse; or fast (of order 10 picosecond) timing detectors for muon cooling
experiments with low muon intensity (of order 105 muons/second).
c. Inexpensive
High Quality Electron Sources—Grant applications are sought for the design
and prototype fabrication of small, inexpensive (<$1 million) electron
sources for use in advanced accelerator R&D laboratory experiments.
The following parameters are target values for accelerator research
experiments: (1) energy range of 5 to 35 MeV providing, at a minimum, on the
order of 109 electrons in a bunch less than 5 picoseconds long; (2)
normalized transverse beam emittance less than or equal to 5 pi mm-mrad; and (3)
pulse repetition rate greater than 10 Hz. Grant
applications are also sought for significantly lower bunch charges, energies,
and emittances – yet with comparable or greater peak currents and
significantly higher repetition rates – for bunches from a matrix cathode.
In addition, grant applications are sought to develop a bright DC/RF
photocathode electron source that combines a pulsed high electric field DC gun
and a high field rf accelerator, operates at a repetition rate of several kHz,
and has electron bunch specifications that are similar to those listed above.
Grant applications are also sought for the development of radio frequency
photocathodes (robust, with quantum efficiencies >0.1 percent) or other novel
rf gun technologies operating at output electron beam energies >3 MeV. Laser
or electron driven systems for such guns are also sought.
Finally, grant
applications are sought for research and development on electron sources to be
used as polarized beam injectors for linear accelerators, including linear
colliders. These sources should be
gated with pulses or pulse trains larger than 0.1 microsecond at about 100-200
pulses per second, and on semiconductor photocathode sources of electrons with
polarization greater than or on the order of 80 percent and energy in the range
of a few volts to several hundred kilovolts.
In addition, intensity stability <1 percent is required for polarized
beams in pulsed linacs.
d. Computer
Software and Systems—Grant applications are solicited for developing new
or improved computational tools specifically for the design, study, or operation
of charged particle beam optical systems, accelerator systems, or accelerator
components. Such applications should incorporate the innovative development of
user-friendly interfaces with emphasis on graphical user interfaces and windows.
Grant applications are also solicited for the conversion of existing codes to
incorporate such interfaces, provided that existing copyrights are protected and
that applications include the authors' statements of permission where
appropriate.
Grant
applications are also sought for improved simulation packages for injectors or
photoinjectors. Specific examples
include: (1) improved space-charge
algorithms; (2) improved algorithms for computing self-consistently the effects
of wakefields and coherent synchrotron radiation on the detailed beam dynamics;
(3) improved fully 3-D algorithms for the modeling of transversely asymmetric
beams; and (4) explicit end-to-end simulations that provide for more accurate
beam-quality calculations in full injector systems.
Lastly, grant
applications are sought to improve (1) software systems for command and control
functions, real time database management, real-time or off-line modeling of the
accelerator system and beam,and status display systems encountered in
state-of-the-art approaches to accelerator control and optimization; and (2)
decision and database management tools, specifically for use in planning and
controlling the integrated cost, schedule, and resources in large high energy
physics R&D and construction projects.
References
1.
Bisognano, J. J. and Mondelli, A. A., eds., Computational
Accelerator Physics, Williamsburg, VA, September 24-27,1996, American
Institute of Physics (AIP), May 1997. (AIP
Conference Proceedings No. 391) (ISBN: 1-56396-671-9)*
2.
Chao, A. and Tigner, M., eds., Handbook of Accelerator Physics
and Engineering, River Edge, NJ: World
Scientific, 1999. (ISBN:
981-02-3858-4)
3.
Chattopadhyay, S., et al., eds., Advanced Accelerator Concepts:
Seventh Workshop, Lake Tahoe,
4.
Chattopadhyay, S., et al., eds., Nonlinear and Collective
Phenomena in Beam Physics–1998 ICFA Workshop, Archidosso, Italy, September
1-5, 1998, American Institute of Physics, 1999.
(AIP Conference Proceedings No. 468) (ISBN: 1-56396-862-2)*
5.
Clayton, C. and Muggli, P., eds., Advanced
Accelerator Concepts Workshop: Tenth
Workshop,
6.
Colestock, P. and Kelley, S., eds., Advanced Accelerator
Concepts Workshop, Santa Fe, NM, June 10-16, 2000, American Institute of
Physics, 2001. (AIP Conference
Proceedings No. 569) (ISBN: 0-7354-0005-9)*
7.
Duggan, J. L. and Morgan,
8.
Duggan, J. L. and Morgan,
9.
Hettel, R. O., et al., eds., Beam Instrumentation Workshop,
Stanford, CA, May 3-7, 1998, American Institute of Physics, 1998.
(AIP Conference Proceedings No. 451) (ISBN: 1-56396-794-4)*
10.
Jacobs, K. and Sibley R., III, eds., Beam Instrumentation
Workshop 2000: Ninth Workshop,
11.
Ko, K. and Ryne, R., eds., Proceedings
of the International Computational Accelerator Physics Conference, Monterey,
CA, September 14-18, 1998,
Stanford, CA:
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center,
November 2001. (Document No.
SLAC-R-580) (Full proceedings available at: http://www.slac.stanford.edu/econf/C980914.)
12.
Kurokawa, S. et al., eds., Beam Measurement:
Proceedings of the Joint US-CERN-Japan-Russia School on Particle
Accelerators, Montreux and CERN, Switzerland, May 11-20, 1998, River Edge,
NJ: World Scientific, 1999.
(ISBN: 981-02-3881-9)
13.
Kurokawa, S., et al., eds., Frontiers of Accelerator
Technology: Proceedings of the Joint
US-CERN-Japan
14.
Lawson, W., et al., eds., Advanced Accelerator Concepts:
Eighth Workshop, Baltimore, MD, July 6-11, 1998, American Institute
of Physics, 1999. (AIP Conference Proceedings
No. 472) (ISBN: 1-56396-794-4)*
15.
Lee, S. Y., Accelerator Physics, River Edge, NJ:
World Scientific, 1999. (ISBN:
981-02-3710-3)
16.
Lee, S. Y., ed., Space Charge Dominated Beams and Applications
of High Brightness Beams, Bloomington, IN, October 10-13, 1995, American
Institute of Physics, 1996. (AIP
Conference Proceedings No. 377) (ISBN: 1-56396-625-5) *
17.
Lucas, P. and Webber, S., eds., Proceedings of the 2001
Particle Accelerator Conference, Chicago, IL, June 18-22, 2001, Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc., 2001.
(ISBN: 0-7803-7191-7)
18.
Parsa, Z., ed., Future High Energy Colliders, Institute for
Theoretical Physics, Santa Barbara, CA, October 21-25, 1996, American
Institute of Physics, 1997. (AIP
Conference Proceedings No. 397) (ISBN: 1-56396-729-4)*
19.
Parsa, Z., ed., New Modes of Particle Acceleration–Techniques
and Sources, Institute for Theoretical Physics, Santa Barbara, CA, August 19-23,
1996, American Institute of Physics, 1997.
(AIP Conference Proceedings No. 396) (ISBN: 1-56396-728-6)*
20.
Rosenzweig, J. and Serafini, L., eds., The Physics of High
Brightness Beams: Proceedings of the
2nd ICFA Advanced Accelerator Workshop, Los Angeles, CA, November 9-12, 1999
, River Edge, NJ: World Scientific, 2000. (ISBN:
981-02-4422-3)
21.
Smith, G. and Russo, T., eds., Beam
Instrumentation Workshop 2002: Tenth
Workshop, Upton,
NY,
__________________________
*
Available from Springer-Verlag New York, Inc.
Telephone: 800-809-2247. Website:
http://www.springer-ny.com
6.
RADIO FREQUENCY ACCELERATOR TECHNOLOGY FOR HIGH ENERGY ACCELERATORS AND
COLLIDERS
The Department of
Energy (DOE) High Energy Physics program supports a broad research and
development (R&D) effort in the science, engineering, and technology of
charged particle accelerators, storage rings, and associated apparatus.
Advanced R&D is needed in support of this research in: (1) high
gradient accelerator structures, (2) high peak power radio frequency (rf)
technologies, and (3) new concepts for low-cost, very efficient, pulse power
modulators. Relevance to applications in high energy physics must be explicitly
described.
Advanced
accelerator R&D more appropriate to applications in nuclear physics is
specifically excluded from this topic and should be submitted under Topic 15.
Grant applications that propose using resources of a third party (such as
a DOE laboratory) must include, in the application, a letter of certification
from an authorized official of that organization. Grant applications are
sought only in the following subtopics:
a. Radio
Frequency Acceleration Structures—Grant applications are sought for
research on very high gradient rf accelerating structures, normal or
superconducting, for use in accelerators and storage rings.
Gradients >100 MeV/m for electrons and >10 MeV/m for protons in
normal cavities are of particular interest, as are means for suppressing
unwanted higher-order modes and reducing costs.
For use in muon accelerator R&D, achieving gradients of 5-10 MeV/m
for cavities with frequencies between 20 and 200 MHz is also of interest. Means
for achieving unloaded voltage gradients >40 MeV/m and reducing costs in
superconducting cavities are also of interest, as are methods for reducing
surface breakdown and multipactoring (such as surface coatings or special
geometries) and for suppressing unwanted higher order modes.
Grant applications should be applicable to devices operating at
frequencies from 1.2 to 40 GHz or
between 20 and 300 MHz for muon accelerators.
b. Radio
Frequency Power for Linear Accelerators—Grant applications are sought for
new concepts, high-power rf components, and instrumentation for producing high
peak power (>75 MW at 11 GHz, appropriately reduced when scaled to higher
frequencies), narrow band, low duty-cycle, low pulse repetition frequency
(approximately 0.1 to 1 kHz) pulsed rf amplifiers for application to upgrading
future large electron/positron linear colliders.
Potential electrical efficiencies greater than 45 percent are considered
essential. Of particular interest
are innovations related to cost saving, manufacturability, and electrical
efficiency. For example:
(1)
One way of providing rf power is the cluster klystron, a device
consisting of a "cluster" of separate magnetron gun driven klystrons
that share a common focusing field and accelerating gap. Such a device could
give high total pulsed power with relatively small individual beam currents, and
thus be capable of high efficiency. The
use of magnetron guns allows the many beams to be enclosed in a compact space,
and have modulation anodes that allow the current to be switched, thus
eliminating the need for a pulsed high-voltage modulator.
Therefore, grant applications are sought to develop cluster klystrons, as
well as highly stable magnetron guns for cluster klystrons.
(2)
Another way is through the use of sheet beam klystrons.
Accordingly, grant applications are sought for these rf sources or their
components such as single or dual sheet beam gridded or diode guns, sheet beam
klystron rf structures, or whole single channel or dual channel sheet beam
klystrons. Engineers at SLAC’s
Klystron Department are available to assure that designs match various linear
collider rf system concepts. In
general, these designs must be directed toward the economical construction of a
klystron capable of delivering 75-120 MW of X-band (11.424 GHz) power, in a
pulse length of 600 nsec – 3.2 microseconds, to accelerator loads.
Two classes of klystrons are envisioned for development:
first, a cathode pulsed dual sheet beam klystron delivering 120 MW of
peak power, 3.2 microseconds, 120 PPS into an rf pulse compression system that
combines multiple klystron power, segmented in time to drive multiple
accelerator sections; and second, a grid pulsed single or dual sheet beam
klystron, 75-120 MW of peak power, 600 nsec, 120 PPS that directly drives a
single accelerating structure – such a gridded, short-pulse klystron may
provide an alternative to a pulse compression system for a linear collider.
(3)
An advanced crossed-field amplifier or magnetron for X-band linacs
may be capable of operation at lower voltage and higher peak current than
klystrons, which require low perveance to be efficient.
Although the long-range development goal is 50-100 MW, grant applications
are sought for the initial development of an amplifier targeted at 5-10 MW,
possibly with permanent magnet focusing. Additional
information can be provided by Sami Tantawi at SLAC (e-mail: tantawi@SLAC.Stanford.edu;
phone 650-926-4454; fax: 650-926-5368).
Upgrades to the
next generation linear collider will require many rf power handling components
which are not presently available, e.g., rf windows, couplers, mode
transformers, rf loads, and high power rings capable of operating at high pulse
powers (20 - 100 MW), high frequencies (11 - 40 GHz), and pulse lengths of
several microseconds. Therefore,
grant applications also are sought for passive and active rf components such as
over-moded mode converters from rectangular to circular waveguide and vice
versa, high-power rf windows, circulators, isolators, switches, quasi-optical
components, and high-power rf pulse compression methods for use in future linear
colliders.
Lastly,
grant applications are sought for the initial design, modeling, and development
of a compact multi beam klystron (MBK) at 201.25 MHz to support proton drift
tube linacs. The source must produce
5 MW pulsed RF at 201.25 MHz for 500 microseconds at 15 Hz rate.
For application at Fermilab, this power source, together with its low and
high level systems, must fit into a footprint of 12 feet by 24 feet with a
ceiling height of 12 feet. Output
power must be supplied via a 9-inch coaxial hard line that can be pressurized to
12 psig. Also, because the MBK would
be part of phase and amplitude feedback loops, it must operate linearly 15 %
below saturation. Efficiency of
about 50 percent and gain of 50 dB are required.
Tube lifetime of about 30,000 hrs is very desirable.
c. New
Concepts or Components for Pulsed Power Modulators and Energy Storage—Most
rf power sources for future linear colliders require high peak-power pulse
modulators of considerably higher efficiency than presently available.
Grant applications are sought for new types of modulators in the 400 kV -
1 MV range for driving currents of 200 - 800 A, with pulse lengths of 0.2 –
4.0 microseconds, and rise- and fall-times of less than 0.5 microsecond.
Innovation related to cost saving, manufacturability, and electrical efficiency
in modulators is especially important. Modulators
with improved voltage control for rf phase stability in some alternate rf power
systems are also sought. Of
particular interest is the development of cathode modulators for driving single
or double sheet beam diode gun klystrons, based on the Marx multiplier
principle. This design should
produce 400-500 kV, 3.2 microsecond pulses; have rise and fall times less than
600 nsec; and be compact and cost competitive compared to present cathode pulse
modulator schemes.
Grant
applications are also sought to develop improved high power solid-state switches
for pulse power switching. For some
applications, requirements will include the ability to switch high current
pulses (2-5 kAmps) at voltage levels of 2 to 6 kV with switching times of less
than 300 nsec. These switches must
handle very high di/dt (20 kAmps/microsecond) at low duty cycle (<0.1
percent).
Existing IGBT
(Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor) packages for high voltage (> 3.3kV) and
high pulsed current (> 3 kAmps peak, 59 Amps average) are not optimized for
very high speed pulsed power applications (6.6 MW peak for 3.2 microseconds at
120 Hz) due to failure modes induced by very rapid fall time (di/dt >10 kAmps/microsecond)
and/or rise time (dV/dt >15 kV/microsecond) upon device turn-off.
Therefore, grant applications are sought to reduce these failure modes
through improved packaging of commercial IGBT chips, by incorporating
appropriate protective circuitry in a high voltage power package designed
specifically for high-speed transients. Additional
information can be provided by Richard Cassel or Saul Gold at SLAC (
Lastly, grant
applications are sought to develop and optimize high reliability, high energy
density energy storage capacitors for future solid state pulse power systems.
The capacitors must: (1) deliver high peak pulse current (5 - 8 kAmps) in
the partial discharge region (less than 10 percent voltage droop during pulse),
(2) be designed with very low inductance connections to allow fast rise and fall
time discharge without ringing (di/dt ~ 20 kAmps/microsecond), and (3) be
packaged to meet the requirements of high power solid state board layouts and
have minimum production cost.
Further
information regarding the last two paragraphs can be obtained from either Ron
Koontz or Saul Gold at SLAC (Koontz: e-mail: rfkap@SLAC.Stanford.edu;
phone: 650-926-2528; fax: 650-926-3654; Gold: e-mail: slg@slac.stanford.edu;
phone: 650-926-4450; fax: 650-926-3654).
Note: See Topic 7
regarding the solicitation of grant applications for components and systems that
target the presently envisioned X-band Linear Collider.
d. Radio
Frequency Power for Muon Colliders—Grant applications are sought for new
concepts, approaches, or designs for radio frequency amplifiers or pulse
compression schemes for use in the acceleration and ionization cooling channels
of a future muon collider. The
amplifiers or compressors must have high peak power (>50 MW) and pulsed, low
frequency (from 2 millisecond pulses at 20 MHz to 0.1 millisecond pulses at 200
MHz). Higher power (>100 MW)
pulsed sources at higher frequencies (from 30 microseconds at 400 MHz to 10
microseconds at 800 MHz) are also of interest.
All muon collider amplifiers must have moderate repetition rate
capability (e.g., 15 Hz). Another
important factor is the cost per unit of peak power, including the cost of
required power supplies.
1. Carlsten, B. E., ed., High Energy Density and High Power RF: 5th Workshop on High Density and High Power RF, Snowbird, Utah, October 1-5, 2001, New York: American Institute of Physics, 2002. (AIP Conference Proceedings No. 625) (ISBN: 0-7354-0078-4)*
2.
Chattopadhyay, S., et al., eds., Advanced
Accelerator Concepts: Seventh
Workshop,
3. Cline, D. B., ed., “Muon Collider Studies,” Physics Potential and Development of m+-m- Colliders, Fourth International Conference, San Francisco, CA, December 1997, pp. 183-344, American Institute of Physics, 1998. (AIP Conference Proceedings No. 441) (ISBN: 1-56396-723-5)*
4. Cline, D. B., ed., Physics Potential and Development of Muon Colliders and Neutrino Factories: Fifth International Conference, San Francisco, CA, December 15-17, 1999, New York: American Institute of Physics, 2000. (AIP Conference Proceedings No. 542) (ISBN: 1-56396-970-X)
5. Colestock, P. and Kelley, S., eds., Advanced Accelerator Concepts Workshop, Santa Fe, NM, June 10-16, 2000, New York: American Institute of Physics, 2001. (AIP Conference Proceedings No. 569) (ISBN: 0-7354-0005-9)*
6.
Dolgashev,
V. A. and Tantawi, S. G., “2-D Simulation of High-Efficiency Cross-Field RF
Power Sources,” XX International Linac Conference, (Linac 2000), Monterey,
CA, August 21-25, 2000, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, September 2000.
(Report No. SLAC-PUB-8603) (Full text
available at: http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/physics/pdf/0008/0008177.pdf)
7. Duggan, J. L. and Morgan, I. L., eds., Application of Accelerators in Research and Industry: Proceedings of the Sixteenth International Conference on the Application of Accelerators in Research and Industry, Denton, TX, November 1-5, 2000, New York: American Institute of Physics, July 2001. (AIP Conference Proceedings No. 576) (ISBN: 0-7354-0015-6)*
8.
Duggan, J. L. and Morgan,
9. Fernow, R. C., ed., Pulsed RF Sources for Linear Colliders Workshop, Montauk, NY, October 2-7, 1994, New York: American Institute of Physics Press, 1995. (AIP Conference Proceedings No. 337) (ISBN: 1563964082)*
10.
King, B., ed., Colliders and
Collider Physics at the Highest Energies: Muon
Colliders at 10 TeV to 100 TeV: HEMC
'99 Workshop, Montauk, NY, Sept. 27-
11.
Lawson, W., et al., eds., Advanced
Accelerator Concepts Workshop, Baltimore,
MD, July 6-11, 1998,
12. Luccio, A. and MacKay, W., eds., Proceedings of the 1999 Particle Accelerator Conference, New York, NY, March 27-April 2, 1999, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc., 1999. (ISBN: 0-7803-5575-X) (IEEE Catalogue No. 99CH36366)
13.
Phillips, R. M., ed., High
Energy Density Microwaves, Pajaro Dunes, CA, October 1998, New York: American Institute of Physics,
1999. (AIP Conference Proceedings
No. 474) (ISBN: 1-56396-796-0)*
__________________________
*
Available from Springer-Verlag New York, Inc.
Telephone: 800-777-4643. Website:
http://www.springer-ny.com
7. TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE NEXT-GENERATION ELECTRON-POSITRON LINEAR COLLIDER
The DOE High
Energy Physics program supports research and development (R&D) of
technologies for a TeV-scale electron-positron linear collider that would use
normal-conducting X-Band (11.4 GHz) microwave power.
This collider will be five to ten times the energy of present-generation
linear accelerators. This topic
addresses near-to-medium term developments to enhance performance and
reliability and/or to reduce costs of accelerator components and
infrastructures. Applications should
demonstrate relevance to these issues. Grant
applications that propose the use of third party resources (such as a DOE
Laboratory) must include, in the application, a letter of certification from an
authorized official of that organization. Grant
applications are sought only in the following subtopics:
a. Direct
Current (DC) and Pulsed Power Supplies, Modulators, and Components—Advances
are needed in various aspects of pulse modulators and associated components to
drive klystrons in both injector and main linac applications. Grant applications
are sought for:
(1)
Ultra-Reliable Capacitors of ~10-25 microfarads at 2.5 to ~6 kV to
provide stored energy for partial discharge, on-off switch modulator
configurations. Requirements include
low loss, low inductance, high power density to minimize volume, MTBF
>100,000 hours, and low cost. Long
lifetime is a priority because the large numbers of such units in the modulator
designs will dominate modulator reliability.
(2)
High Voltage Pulse Transformers with low leakage inductance and
minimized core loss, for use in solid-state-switch driven modulators.
The modulators will drive a pair of X-band klystrons at 120 Hz with ~500
kV, 520 A peak and 3 microseconds pulse-length.
A preferred design would use a segmented core, a fractional-turn primary
with about 12 sections, and a multi-turn basket-type secondary of about 11
turns.
Additional
information can be obtained from Ray Larsen at SLAC (e-mail: larsen@SLAC.Stanford.edu;
phone: 650-926-4907; fax: 650-926-5124).
b.
Manufacturing Processes and Support Technology for Microwave Power—The
transmission of high power, X-band microwaves to the high-energy, X-band linear
accelerators may utilize oversized, multi-mode components and waveguides with
non-standard cross sections, evacuated to 10 nTorr pressure.
Components for such functions
as manipulating microwave modes or introducing mechanical flexibility may be
irregularly shaped. They also
require demanding tolerances on internal dimensions (mils), surface finishes
(microns), leak rates (10-12 Torr-liter/sec/cm2), rf
voltage hold-off (40 MV per meter), and surface conductivity (at least as good
as aluminum). For these components,
conventional manufacturing processes such as investment casting or
electroforming are not adequate. Therefore,
grant applications are sought to develop appropriate techniques or manufacturing
processes to economically produce these microwave components in large batches of
identical parts.
Grant
applications are also sought to develop or advance “first cut” (net shape or
near net shape) manufacturing processes for mass production of high-conductivity
(100 percent dense), oxygen-free (ASTM F.68 Metallographic Class I) copper
components used in ultra-high vacuum (UHV) (equilibrium vapor pressure <1
nTorr at 300 C), high-power microwave applications.
For these applications, mechanical tolerances of 50-100 micrometers must
be achieved. Of particular interest
are grant applications that seek to develop or advance processes for precision
machining subsequent to net shaping, with dimensional and flatness tolerances of
one micrometer and surface finishes of 10 nanometer (rms).
Other areas of interest include (but are not limited to):
powdered metallurgy with copper plating; precision mechanical measurement
device(s) for RF component fabrication; development of microwave Quality Control
techniques for X-band cell manufacturing, able to resolve shifts of 0.5 MHz in
cell resonant frequency due to multidimensional errors; and surface treatments
for RF components and assemblies. Lastly,
manufacturing processes for the mass production of ultra-high vacuum, high-power
parts made from stainless steel, aluminum, or copper alloys are also of
interest, provided that tolerances and applicability are similar to those listed
above. All grant applications must
demonstrate significant cost reduction over conventional techniques (such as
current numerically controlled machining methods).
Additional information can be provided by Gregg Kobliska or Harry Carter
at Fermilab (Kobliska: e-mail: gregg@fnal.gov;
phone: 630-840-4893; fax: 630-840-nnnn; Carter: e-mail: hfcarter@fnal.gov
phone: 630-840-2458; fax: 630-840-8022).
Finally, to
support the generation and transmission of high power microwaves, grant
applications are sought to develop: (1) a microwave circulator and/or active
switch with high efficiency for multi-megawatt power levels at 11.4 GHz [see
reference 7]; (2) robust, reliable techniques for distributed pumping and/or for
suppression of surface field emission in components and waveguides; (3) robust,
reliable techniques for the joining components and waveguide sections in the
accelerator housing [see reference 8]; or (4) new permanent magnet focusing
structures with reduced cost or improved reliability for X- or S band klystrons
or for X-band crossed-field amplifiers. Further
information can be obtained from Sami Tantawi at SLAC (e-mail: tantawi@SLAC.Stanford.edu;
phone 650-926-4454; fax: 650-926-5368).
c. Positron
Target Station Systems Analysis — The
high radiation environment and power dissipation requirements of the positron
production target in a linear collider will force system designers to understand
the design choices and trade-offs involving the targeting configuration,
redundancy, operational availability, maintainability, performance, and life
cycle cost. For example, should targets be swapped annually or be run until
failure? Should repairs be made on
demand or preemptively, when the system is hot or after a protracted cool-down
period? What level of sophistication
in remote handling techniques is appropriate?
How do such choices affect the system configuration? Grant applications
are sought for a systems analysis study, which raises different options and
evaluates tradeoffs, to guide system designers in making design choices.
Engineers in the NLC Positron Source R&D group at SLAC are available
to work with applicants in understanding the performance considerations and past
studies of failure modes and effects. For
more information, contact John Sheppard at SLAC (e-mail: jcs@slac.stanford.edu,
phone: 650-926-3498, fax: 650-926-5124).
d. Focusing
and Auxiliary Systems—As a potentially more economical and reliable
alternative to DC electromagnets, permanent magnets are under consideration.
Grant applications are sought to develop engineering design and
evaluation techniques applicable to permanent magnets used in linear colliders,
and for a highly reliable permanent magnet quadrupole that is remotely tunable
over a range of ±20 percent relative to its nominal integrated focusing
gradient (taking about 10 seconds). The
quadrupole must be magnetically stable, with less than 1.4 micrometers of
magnetic center shift. These
specifications require symmetry and stability not previously sought from
permanent magnets and greatly influence the magnetic and mechanical design of
the quadrupole. A typical quadrupole
will have 13-mm-diameter aperture, 430-mm length, and 0.8-Tesla pole-tip field.
The operating environment that is contemplated is 10,000 Rads per year, and
stable temperature near 90oF. See reference 1 for more information on
this subject. Further information
can be obtained from John Cornuelle, SLAC (e-mail: johnc@SLAC.Stanford.edu;
phone: 650-926-2545; fax: 650-926-5124).
The low-level microwave reference signal for a linear
collider will be distributed at a sub harmonic of the linac frequency.
Therefore, grant applications are sought to develop 6X frequency
multipliers with an output frequency of 2856 MHz, unprecedented phase stability
of order 100 fs, noise floor of –160 dBc (input referred), and long-term drift
not to exceed 100 fs from 20 to 40 degrees C.
Additional information, can be provided by Ron Akre at SLAC (e-mail: akre@SLAC.Stanford.edu,
phone: 650-926-4754; fax: 650-926-3654).
Grant
applications also are sought to develop one or both of two types of precision
translation actuators suitable for integration into hundreds of mover systems
(each with several degrees of freedom) for the spatial adjustment of beam line
components in the radiation environment of a high-energy linear accelerator that
is several miles long. The
continuous adjustment of linac components will require more than 10,000
actuators (of Type 1) with load capacity of 250 kg, resolution of 1 micron,
range of plus or minus 1 mm, stability of 1 micron per day, maximum speed of 2
mm/min, power of 20 W at full speed, and average unit cost below $200.
The final focusing magnets will require tens of even more precise
actuators (Type 2) with 1000 kg load capacity, 0.1 micron resolution, plus or
minus 0.5 mm range, 0.5 micron per day stability, and 100 W power at full speed.
The latter type should be functional at 4 Tesla and 3 degrees Kelvin, and
may cost more than the Type 1 actuators. Both
types should use less than 2 W when static and should fail safely when power is
removed. Localized position readout
would be desirable as an independent supplement to the precision measurements by
beam position monitors. Further
information can be obtained from Gordon Bowden at SLAC, (e-mail: gbb@SLAC.Stanford.edu;
phone: 650-926-2991; fax: 650-926-5368.)
In
addition, grant applications are sought for an optical real-time network for
pulsed-accelerator control. This
development requires combining timing information with data-communication
functions on a single optical fiber connected to pulsed device-controllers.
These controllers provide interfaces to systems for such functions as
low-level RF signal generation, modulator control, beam position monitors, and
machine protection system sensing. A
single fiber should provide each controller with an RF-synchronized clock that
has an arrival time phase-locked to the temperature-stabilized RF reference
phase, a similarly-locked machine pulse fiducial point, digital data for machine
pulse-type selection and specific pulse identification, and real-time-streaming
pulsed waveform data-acquisition capabilities.
The network should provide real-time fast feedback loop closure and
TCP/IP connectivity for slow control functions, such as database access, device
configuration, and code downloading and debugging.
Finally,
proposals are sought for real-time processors and software for pulsed
accelerator control and monitoring, based on a multiprocessor architecture that
can be deeply embedded within pulsed device-controllers employing
system-on-a-chip, field-programmable gate-array or application-specific
integrated circuit technologies. These
architectures should feature distinct processors for pulse-to-pulse real-time
functions and conventional slow control functions.
Architectural provisions for supporting machine protection functions via
an additional processor or dedicated hardware should also be included.
These processor designs for pulsed device controllers and the
timing/communications network mentioned in the previous paragraph should be
engineered for both resistance to electromagnetic interference generated by
nearby, large, pulsed-power systems and maximum availability in remote
deployment locations.
Further
information on the preceding two paragraphs can be obtained from Ray Larsen at
SLAC (e-mail: larsen@SLAC.Stanford.edu;
phone: 650-926-4907; fax: 650-926-5124).
1.
2001 Report on the Next Linear Collider:
A Report submitted to Snowmass 2001.
By NLC Collaboration. SLAC-R-571, 157 pp.
Prepared for APS / DPF / DPB Summer Study on the Future of Particle
Physics (Snowmass 2001), Snowmass, CO, June 30-
2.
Bellomo, P., et al., “A Novel Approach to Increasing the
Reliability of Accelerator Magnets,” IEEE Transactions on Applied
Superconductivity, 10(1): 284-287, March 2000.
(ISSN: 1051-8223)
3.
Dolgashev,
V. A. and Tantawi, S. G., “2-D Simulation of High-Efficiency Cross-Field RF
Power Sources,” XX International Linac Conference, (Linac 2000), Monterey,
CA, August 21-25, 2000, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, September 2000.
(Report No. SLAC-PUB-8603) (Full text available at:
http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/physics/pdf/0008/0008177.pdf)
4. Lehman DOE Review, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Menlo Park, CA, May 24-28, 1999. (Full text available at: http://www-project.slac.stanford.edu/lc/nlc-tech.html. On left menu select “NLC Technical,” and then “Technical Review Calendars.” Select “1999 Chronological Listing,” scroll down to “May 24-28,” and open link labeled “Lehman DOE Review.”)
5. Loew, G., ed., International Linear Collider Technical Review Committee Report, 1995. (Full text available at: http://www.slac.stanford.edu/xorg/ilc-trc/toc.html. Best viewed using Netscape 3.0, downloadable from site.)
6.
Next Linear Collider Modulator Workshops, Stanford Linear Accelerator
Center, Menlo Park, CA,
7. Proceedings of the 7th International Workshop on Linear Colliders (LC 97), Zvenigorod, Russia, Sept. 29-Oct. 3, 1997. (Full text available at: http://www.desy.de/conferences/LC97/proceed/html/proceed.htm)
8.
Tantawi, S. G., “New Development in RF Pulse Compression,” 20th
International Linac Conference,
9. Volk, J. T., et al., “Adjustable Permanent Quadrupoles for the Next Linear Collider,” Proceedings of the [IEEE] 2001 Particle Accelerator Conference, (PAC 2001), Chicago, IL, June 18-22, 2001, 1:217-219, IEEE, 2001. (Full text available at: http://fnalpubs.fnal.gov/archive/2001/conf/Conf-01-093.pdf)
10.
The NLC Design Group, NLC
ZDR: Zeroth-Order Design Report for
the Next Linear Collider, a report submitted to Snowmass 1996,
Stanford, CA: Stanford Linear
Accelerator Center, May 1996. (Report
No. SLAC-R-474) (Full text available at: http://www.slac.stanford.edu/pubs/slacreports/slac-r-474.html)
__________________________
*
See Solicitation General Information and Guidelines, section 7.1.
8. HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS DETECTORS
The
Department of Energy (DOE) supports research and development in a wide range of
technologies essential to experiments in high energy physics and to the
accelerators at DOE high energy accelerator laboratories.
The development of advanced technologies for particle detection and
identification for use in high energy physics experiments or particle
accelerators is desired. Principal
areas of interest include particle detectors based on new techniques and
technological developments (e.g., superconductivity or solid-state devices) or
detectors which can be used in novel ways as a consequence of associated
technological developments in electronics (e.g., sensitivity or bandwidth), with
particular interest in devices exhibiting insensitivity to very high radiation
levels. Also of interest are
novel experimental systems that use new detectors or use old ones in new ways
that either extend basic high energy physics experimental research capabilities
or result in less costly and less complex apparatus.
Grant applications must clearly
and specifically indicate their particular relevance to high energy physics
programmatic activities.
Although
particle physics detector development is often concentrated at major national
particle accelerator centers, there are many developmental endeavors, especially
in collaborative efforts, where small businesses can make creative and
innovative contributions that further develop the required advanced
technologies. Nonetheless,
applicants are encouraged to collaborate with active high energy elementary
particle physicists at universities or national laboratories to establish
mutually beneficial goals. On-line
directories of appropriate researchers are available at http://www.hep.net/sites/directories.html.
Grant applications are sought only
in the following subtopics:
a.
Particle Detection and Identification Devices - Grant
applications are sought for novel devices in the areas of charged and neutral
particle detection and identification. Examples
include, but are not limited to, semiconductor particle detectors (silicon, CVD
diamond, or other semiconductors), light-emitting particle detectors
(scintillating materials including fibers and crystals or Cherenkov radiators),
photosensitive detectors that could be used with light-emitting detectors (photomultipliers,
micro-channel plates, photosensitive semiconductors), gas or liquid-filled
chambers (used for particle tracking or in electromagnetic or hadronic
calorimeters, Cherenkov or transition radiation detectors).
The
proposed devices must be explicitly related to future high-energy physics
experiments, either accelerator or non-accelerator based, or to future uses in
particle accelerators. Relevant
potential improvements over existing devices and techniques must be discussed
explicitly (e.g., radiation hardness, energy, position, and timing
resolution, sensitivity, rate capability, stability, dynamic range, durability,
cost). Electromagnetic calorimeters,
also called shower counters or gamma ray detectors, must be optimized for
photons with energies above 1 GeV. X-ray
detectors are not relevant to this topic.
b.
Detector Support and Integration
Components - High energy physics experiments frequently require high
performance detector support that will not compromise the precision of the
detectors. Therefore, grant
applications are sought for components used to support or integrate detectors
into high-energy physics experiments. The
support components must be well matched to the detectors and possess some or all
of the following features: low mass, high strength or stiffness, low intrinsic
radioactivity, exceptionally high or exceptionally low thermal conductivity, and
low cost. Grant applications are
also sought for alignment and cooling systems.
References:
1. Abe, F., et al., “The CDF Detector: An Overview,” Nuclear Instruments & Methods in Physics Research, Section A–Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, 271(3):387-403, September 1988. (ISSN: 0168-9002)
2.
Amidei, D., et al., “The
Silicon Vertex Detector of the Collider Detector at Fermilab,” Nuclear Instruments
& Methods in Physics Research, Section A, 350(1-2):73-130,
3. Bock, R. K. and Regler, M., Data Analysis Techniques in High Energy Physics Experiments, Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, 1990. (ISBN: 0-521-34195-7)
4.
Bromley, D. A., “Evolution
and Use of Nuclear Detectors and Systems,”
Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics
Research, 162(1-3):1-8,
5.
Cline, D. B., “
6.
Duggan, J. L. and Morgan,
7. Kleinknecht, K., Detectors for Particle Radiation, Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, 1986. (ISBN: 0-521-30424-5)
8. Litke, A. M. and Schwarz, A. S., “The Silicon Microstrip Detector,” Scientific American, 272(5):76-81, May 1995. (ISSN: 0036-8733)
9.
Perkins, D. H., An
Introduction to High Energy Physics, Addison-Wesley Longman, 1982.
(ISBN: 0-201-05757-3)
9. HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS DATA ACQUISITION AND PROCESSING
The
Department of Energy supports the development of advanced electronics and
computational technologies for the recording, processing, storage, distribution,
and analysis of experimental data that is essential to experiments and particle
accelerators used for high energy physics research.
Areas of present interest include event triggering, data acquisition,
scalable clustered computer systems, distributed collaborative infrastructure,
distributed data management and analysis frameworks, and distributed software
development useful to high energy physics experiments and particle accelerators.
Grant applications must clearly and specifically indicate
their relevance to present or future high energy physics programmatic
activities.
Although
particle physics detector instrumentation, data processing and analysis, and
software development typically occur in large collaborative efforts at national
particle accelerator centers, there are efforts where small businesses can make
innovative and creative contributions to the further development of the required
advanced technologies. Applicants
are encouraged to collaborate with active high energy elementary particle
physicists at universities or national laboratories to establish mutually
beneficial goals. On-line
directories of appropriate
researchers are
available by
institution at http://www.hep.net/sites/directories.html.
Grant applications that propose using the resources of a third party
(such as a DOE laboratory) must include, in the application, a letter of
certification from an authorized official of that organization.
Grant applications are sought only in the following
subtopics:
a.
High-Speed Electronic Instrumentation—Grant
applications are sought to develop components, electronics, systems, and
instrumentation modules as follows:
(1) Special purpose chips and devices are sought for use in
the internal circuitry employed in large particle detectors. Desirable features
include low noise, low power consumption, high packing density, radiation
resistance, very high response speed, and/or high adaptability to situations
requiring multiple parallel channels. Desirable
functions include amplifiers, counters, analog pulse storage devices, decoders,
encoders, analog-to-digital converters, controllers, and communications
interface devices.
(2) Circuits and systems are sought for rapidly processing
data from particle detectors such as proportional wire chambers, scintillation
counters, silicon microstrip detectors, particle calorimeters, and Cerenkov
counters. Representative processing
functions and circuits include low noise pulse amplifiers and preamplifiers,
high speed counters (>300 MHz), and time-to-amplitude converters.
Compatibility with one of the widely used module interconnection
standards (e.g., FASTBUS, or VMEbus) is highly desirable, as would be low power
consumption, high component density, and/or adaptability to large numbers of
multiple channels.
(3) Advanced, high speed logic arrays and microprocessor
systems are sought for fast event identification, event trigger generation, and
data processing with very high throughput capability.
Such systems should be compatible with or implemented in one of the
widely used module interconnection standards (e.g., FASTBUS, or VMEbus).
(4) Much of the electronics instrumentation in use in high
energy physics is packaged in one of the international module inter-connection
standards (e.g., FASTBUS, or VMEbus). Therefore,
grant applications are sought for modules that will provide capabilities not
previously available; for substantial performance enhancement to existing types
of modules; and for components, devices, or systems that will enhance or
significantly extend the capability or functionality of one of the standard
systems. Examples include large
and/or fast buffer memories, single module computer systems (either general
purpose or special purpose), display modules, interconnection systems,
communication modules and systems, and disk-drive interface modules.
b.
Large Scale Analysis Computer Systems—Grant
applications are sought to develop: (1)
computer system components and supporting software enabling large scale and open
use of storage networks, especially for magnetic disks, optical disks, and
magnetic tapes; (2) computer system
components and supporting software enabling the use of TCP/IP protocols in a
more efficient manner over a local area network; (3) computer software or
systems for monitoring and operating heterogeneous computer systems and networks
for functionality, performance, and manageability criteria (also, ease of
software installation on hundreds of computers would be desired); (4) methods
for integrating distributed authority and access control into distributed data
systems; and/or (5) improvements to the quality, reliability and cost
effectiveness of petabyte storage systems. Proposed
efforts must address identified computing problems related to diverse, large
scale computing systems that support particle physics analysis or accelerator
control.
c.
Distributed Collaborative Infrastructure and Distributed Data Management
and Analysis Frameworks—Advanced computational tools and software are needed to strengthen
the ability of dispersed particle physics researchers to collaborate and to
address problems related to the acquisition, handling, storage, analysis, and
visualization of large datasets by these distributed collaborations.
Grant applications are sought to
develop: (1) client-server
frameworks and Web tools for creating collaborative environments, facilitating
remote participation of detector experts at the data collection stage, and
allowing collaborators to remotely monitor experiments; (2) software project
management tools; (3) computer system components and supporting software
incorporating the use of Quality of Service features generally available in wide
area networks; (4) portable systems to hold very large collections of data of
the type created in connection with the operation of very large detectors, along
with data management tools; (5) visualization and software environments
appropriate for physics analysis; (6) software to support data systems
distributed over a wide area network; (7) framework, interconnects, and other
peripherals which allow the use and orderly aggregation of commodity computers
and computer peripherals at larger than normal scales, or at higher performance
levels than usual; and/or (8) software development tools for the production of
computer software to meet identified problems related to distributed, large
scale software development, configuration management, and data analysis –
approaches of interest include distributed portable testing and Computer Aided
Software Engineering (CASE), including configuration management tools for a
portable, distributed environment; (9) Web tools for remote data selection
("skimming"); and (10) neural nets for optimization of data cuts and
pattern recognition.
1. 1991 Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference, Santa Fe, New Mexico, November 2-9, 1991, IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, 39(4): 486-1179, August 1992. (ISSN: 0018-9499)
2. ATLAS Collaboration, ATLAS Technical Proposal for a General-Purpose pp Experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, Ge