Speaker
Description
Following from the Particle Physics Project Prioritization Panel (P5) 2014 report, Fermilab is hosting a new Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF) with greater than one megawatt of proton beam power on target and upgrade potential to greater than two megawatts. As future accelerator neutrino sources, such as LBNF, become increasingly powerful and intense, there is a pressing need to address the technical challenges presented by this high power on target. Energy deposition from high intensity primary beam induces sudden heating (thermal shock) as well as micro-structural changes (radiation damage) in the target material. As higher intensities are desired for future neutrino sources, these effects have neared the limits of the currently utilized materials. The HiRadMat facility offers the unique opportunity to evaluate candidate targetry materials in extremely high beam intensity and thermal shock environments. Recently neutrino targetry candidate materials have been tested at HiRadMat in the non-irradiated and previously irradiated condition. This was the first in-beam high intensity thermal shock test conducted upon previously irradiated material and brought together the research areas of radiation damage and thermal shock effects in targetry materials. Future experiments, building upon this first experiment are critical to understanding how the effects of radiation damage and thermal shock from high intensity beam can be mitigated, ensuring the success of high intensity neutrino beamlines such as LBNF. This presentation will review the material challenges of neutrino targetry, describe the role of HiRadMat in neutrino targetry research, and discuss possible benefits of HiRadMat facility upgrades and improvements.