Building a synchrotron facility is like a small odyssey, involving very demanding developments in areas such as engineering, computing or accelerator's physics, among many others. Collaborations between facilities are a must and gained experience is a key factor for optimising the construction process.
ALBA collaborates with the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) in the validation of a prototype and a series of 16 bending magnets to be installed in SESAME, the synchrotron facility that is currently being built in the Middle East.
Bending magnets are used in synchrotron light facilities to guide the trajectories of the electrons. They are also used as photon sources, since electrons, when submitted to the centripetal acceleration, emit synchrotron light.
The ALBA Magnetic Measurements lab is responsible for characterizing the magnetic field map of these magnets that is to measure in detail the intensity of the magnetic field in a flat grid containing the trajectory of the electrons. This process is the final step in the production of the magnets, and it ensures that the strict needed tolerances, which are set by beam dynamics considerations, are met.
To this end, ALBA experts use a measurement bench with a 3D robotic arm with a high accuracy magnetic sensor and a specific methodology –developed during the construction of ALBA Synchrotron– to measure the magnetic field inside the magnets, checking their uniformity and their gradient with an error margin of maximum 0,05%.
This activity is part of the CESSAMag FP7 project, led by the CERN, whose objective is supporting the construction of the SESAME light source. These tests have started at the end of 2014 with the validation of the prototype and it will last about eight months, completing the measurement of 16 bending magnets.
"This collaboration is the result of the excellent experience gained by ALBA staff with the construction and operation of the infrastructure, which has placed our scientists and engineers at the forefront of research", says Caterina Biscari, director of the ALBA Synchrotron.
The ALBA Magnetic Measurements lab is the only lab in Spain specialized in measuring big magnetic structures. Apart from ALBA's magnets and insertion devices, it has also been contracted for testing magnets for a number of national and international companies and research centres.
SESAME, a synchrotron facility to foster science partnership in the Middle East
The Synchrotron-Light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East (SESAME) was born under the auspices of the UNESCO in 2002. Set up on the model of the CERN, SESAME is a cooperative venture by scientists and governments of the region. Part of its components comes from Bessy I, an old particle accelerator from Germany.
This new facility has been thought as a way opening new perspectives of cooperation in the Middle-Eastern region as well as to deal with scientific challenges. SESAME is "a big step in international scientific collaboration, deleting political barriers in favour of research", says Caterina Biscari.
Located at 30 kilometres of Amman, SESAME's council is composed of nine different countries: Jordan, Bahrain, Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Pakistan, Iran, the Palestinian Authority and Turkey. In 2014, Spain became one of the observers' countries at SESAME council.
Some of the members of ALBA involved in the magnets' measurements. Next, view of SESAME's building (Jordan).
