The Second Orion Workshop

Proceedings
posted on
May 8, 2003

ORION will be a dedicated user facility available for experimental research in plasma and laser acceleration of particles, beam-plasma physics, ultra-short pulse electron and radiation sources, and potentially laboratory astrophysics. It will bring together a diverse collection of researchers motivated to solve some of the most complex and fascinating problems in these fields. The ORION Facility will be based on the Next Linear Collider Test Accelerator (NLCTA), an existing accelerator at SLAC capable of producing 60 to 350 MeV electron beams. The NLCTA will be augmented with a new photoinjector source, two experimental halls, extraction beamlines, a user laser room, and a data acquisition area. Facility construction is anticipated to start in October 2003, and first beam for experiments is planned for 2005.

A central goal of ORION is to provide a facility responsive to the research needs of its users. The workshop's purpose is to explore the range of experiments envisioned by potential users and review the types of beams available and the desired beam parameters. This workshop is an opportunity for the research community to provide input on the facility's test beams, layout, shared diagnostic equipment, simulation and computing capabilities, and user support infrastructure. Results from the workshop will go into determining the facility's design as well as help the SLAC management plan for future user needs on the site once operations begin.

After a successful and productive meeting, we compiled the material presented at the Second ORION Workshop into this proceedings (SLAC-WP-026) available both on the Web and on a CD mailed to all participants.