The steady march of storage-ring magnets around the NSLS-II tunnel is a visible sign of the accelerator taking shape for the new light source.

Supervisor Frank Lincoln with magnet girders in the NSLS-II accelerator tunnel

Magnet girders are now coming in at the rate of two per week, according to Greg Fries, project engineer in charge of installation. He credits supervisor Frank Lincoln for optimizing the installation process.

Eighteen multipole magnet girders and three dipole magnet girders are sitting in the tunnel now. Each multipole girder holds quadrupole, sextupole and corrector magnets. One dipole magnet sits on each dipole girder.

All of the magnets have made long journeys to get to their places around the tunnel. The magnets come from:

• Institute of High Energy Physics in China
• Buckley, New Zealand
• Danfysik, Denmark
• Budker, Russia
• Everson Tesla in the U.S. (with some of the magnets coming from Tesla in England)

Eventually, the tunnel will be filled with a total of 150 girders (90 multipole and 60 dipole). That will be 810 magnets total (300 quads, 270 sextupoles, 180 correctors and 60 dipoles).

“The last girder is scheduled to go into the tunnel a little over a year from now,” said Fries. “Final installation will be complete in July 2013.”

— Mona S. Rowe