SIMULATION OF A BEAM ROTATION SYSTEM FOR THE SINQ SPALLATION SOURCE AT PSI

With a nominal beam power of nearly 1 MW on target, the PSI-SINQ ranks among the world’s most powerful neutron spallation sources. The proton beam transport to the SINQ target is carried out exclusively by means of linear elements. As a consequence, at the SINQ target entrance the beam presents Gaussian transverse x and y distributions with tails cut short by collimators. This leads to a highly uneven temperature distribution inside the SINQ target, giving rise to thermal and mechanical stress. In view of a future beam intensity upgrade, the possibility of homogenizing the beam distribution by means of a fast beam rotation system is currently under study. Important aspects of this method concern the resulting neutron spectrum and flux distribution. The simulations of the beam distribution obtained with this technique as well as its consequences in terms of neutron production are presented in this contribution.