FFA workshops have traditionally covered a range of topics:
- Status reports of existing FFA accelerators and plans for future updates
- Hardware developments
- Applications - known, under development and new possibilities
Recent studies have demonstrated the promise of FFA rings through their apparent robustness and, for example, in their flexibility in allowing very rapid acceleration, variable energy extraction and the ability to hold stacked beams to allow ejection at different bunch intensities and different repetition rates. For theoreticians, there are fascinating challenges in FFA beam dynamics, including the development of new modelling codes.
Current work includes a major study at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) into a future spallation neutron source based on a proton FFA, and construction of a small prototype test of an FFA is planned. This could be a vertical orbit excursion (vFFA) accelerator. Designs are being developed for FFA's to be used for both proton and muon acceleration in the muon collider and neutrino factory. Recently FFAs have been successfully incorporated into the CBETA energy-recovery accelerator at Cornell. There is also an active programme into the use of FFA-type structures for medical purposes.
We would hope to widen the scope of use of FFAs and welcome participation from scientists who think an FFA might be suitable for their projects and may have new ideas to bring to the present FFA community.
