Fyzikální ústav Akademie věd ČR

The 8th Dvořák Lecture

In 1916 Albert Einstein demonstrated that the theory of General Relativity allows for wave-like, space time perturbations propagating with the speed of light. Two years later, he calculated his famous quadrupole formula, describing how these “gravitational” waves can be generated. However, due to the extreme weakness of gravity, detecting gravitational waves seemed an impossible task. They even became a matter of controversy with Einstein himself becoming convinced they did not exist.

The Spallation Neutron Source became in 2007 the brightest pulsed Neutron Source and by now is ~8 times brighter than the second leading pulsed Neutron Source. It took years of learning and understanding issues and find better solutions or work arounds. After an introduction into the workings of the Spallation Neutron Source and its Frontend, we will discuss some of the discoveries made and exploited for the success of SNS, including the record breaking H- beam currents and the record breaking service cycles of the SNS H- ion source.