Berkeley Lab

Advanced Concepts and Applications

BCMT seeks to identify areas where we can provide unique capabilities and expertise to the DOE Office of Science through materials and magnets beyond the proven state of the art. We emphasize magnet systems that enable new science capabilities and that are beyond the capabilities of industry. In this way the DOE and the US get high leverage from initial investments.

Magnets for ECR Ion Sources

VENUS_301x223yElectron cyclotron resonance ion sources provide intense beams of heavy ions at high charge states, but the field strength and magnet geometry pose challenges. The VENUS ECR source at LBNL’s 88-Inch Cyclotron led to the source for the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB), DOE’s flagship nuclear-science project.

Medical Gantries

gantrydetail_600x435yThe Canted Cosine-Theta (CCT) concept is being applied to medical therapy gantries together with collaborators Varian Medical Systems and the Paul Scherrer Institute. Goals: significantly reduce the need for magnet ramping during a patient treatment, and reduce overall gantry weight by an order of magnitude.

Superconducting Undulator Technology for Light Sources

SCU_light_source_692x291yWe have been developing Nb3Sn magnet technology — the conductor and new means for making magnets from this brittle material — for over two decades. Although it has mostly been applied to high-energy physics, we realized early on that it also has potential for advanced superconducting undulators.

Permanent-Magnet (PM) Systems for Storage Rings

PMchicane_650x514ySince the 1980s, LBNL has been a leader in PM accelerator magnets and undulators and wigglers. From the world’s first pure-PM and hybrid undulators, to today’s hysteresis-free permanent magnet chicanes, to tomorrow’s ultra-compact, tunable, pure PM systems, BCMT is at the forefront of PM applications.