Last week, science islanders witnessed the second batch of quadrupole magnets delivery. This equipment which was developed by researchers from the Institute of Plasma Physics (ASIPP) of the Hefei Institute of Physical Science (HFIPS) will be delivered to Beijing as planned, for the High Energy Proton Source (HEPS) project.

There are 150 quadrupole magnets in total designed for the intensifier of accelerator magnetic system of HEPS. Up to now, 33 quadrupole magnets have been successfully developed.

As an important part of HEPS accelerator, the intensifier helps to accelerate the beam energy from 500 MeV to 6 GeV. Therefore, the magnetic field performance of quadrupole magnet should meet the physical requirements in a dynamic range, which was the technical difficulty in developing work.

In order to improve the stability of the magnet in the dynamic operating process, the research team designed a special stacking mould for the iron core according to the magnet structure, in which thousands of 0.5 mm thick, silicon coated steel sheets were stacking and sticking. This mould ensured that the magnetization curve, the weight and the outline of the 150 iron cores are consistent.

"We have been working on the project for three months," said Dr. PENG Liming, who led the team, "all the time spent proved worth taking when the 33 magnets parts were finished and all the technical indicators meet the design requirements." According to him, the rest 117 parts will be delivered in 10 months.

HEPS is a high-performance and high-energy synchrotron radiation light source with a beam energy of 6GeV and an ultra-low emittance of better than 0.06nm rad. It is mainly composed of accelerator, beamlines and end-stations. And it will be the first high-energy synchrotron radiation light source in China.

HEPS intensifier quadrupole mangnet (Image by HFIPS)