Conveners
Involving Operators (Physics)
- Rossano Giachino (CERN)
Like all complex systems, the operation of an accelerator or a chain of accelerators is heavily guided by the physics that governs motions of charged particles. While this has been the theme for most of the cases, it has been also shown that an experienced operator is indispensable for achieving best beam performance for the users even if she is not at all fluent in the most sophisticated...
At SLAC; there is a very active machine development program that constantly strives to expand the capabilities of LCLS-I. Furthermore, users often require very specialized modes of running that require a high level of expertise to set up. This necessitates a high level of cooperation and knowledge-sharing among operators and physicists, especially as we begin to commission two new injectors...
Operating a large accelerator safely and reliably on a day-to-day basis is a clearly distinct task from performing R&D studies for future accelerator upgrades or projects. Even though the required skills and culture of both worlds can be seen as contradicting at first glance, the benefits of mutual understanding, exchanges and teamwork between beam physics and operation teams has been crucial...
