Ampegon is pleased to announce the completion of a project to supply 14x high voltage power supplies to GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research (Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung) in Darmstadt, Germany.
In cooperation with RI Research Instruments GmbH, Ampegon’s systems provide the power necessary to accelerate heavy ions in GSI’s new particle accelerator, the 1080m circumference SIS-100 heavy-ion synchrotron (Schwer-Ionen Synchrotron), which is part of the international Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR).
The FAIR facility intends to create high energy beams of ionized heavy elements, accelerated to 99% of the speed of light, and then use them for experiments to investigate the nature of matter and antimatter in the universe. By colliding these heavy-ion beams into special targets, and then collecting and analyzing the resulting particles, scientists hope to explore the physics of subatomic interactions and learn about antimatter, dark matter, and the nature of mass.
In order to achieve this, GSI has designed and is building the new SIS-100 accelerator, featuring a novel ferrite-loaded cavity design. High power 1.1MHz to 3.2MHz RF, provided by a tetrode tube, is used to create up to 20kV peak accelerating gradient inside the cavities. Ampegon’s highly reliable PSM-6 power supplies provide variable power outputs up to 14kV/17A continuously to the tetrode’s anode.
This project was a particular success for Ampegon, given the current difficulties working under Covid-19 restrictions. Ampegon’s staff have worked hard in isolation from one another while completing the project, while factory testing in conjunction was successfully completed with RI and GSI staff via web-conferencing services.
The final Ampegon power supply was successfully delivered to GSI in November 2020. The SIS-100 accelerator is expected to be completed, commissioned, and put into everyday operation for scientific experiments by 2025.