Monday - April 3, 2006

LCLS Drive Laser to Arrive Next Month

by Juhi Yajnik

A fundamental component for the LCLS, the drive laser, will arrive at SLAC in late May.

The drive laser creates the initial beam for the LCLS.  When focused on a cathode, the laser beam becomes an electron bunch that then travels through the linac. Undulator magnets then alter the motion of the electrons, generating the world's first hard x-ray free electron laser pulses. These pulses will then continue on to the LCLS end station experiments.

The drive laser installation, costing just under $1.2 million, is about the size of a Honda Civic and is being shipped from France.

"We are thrilled to be putting pieces of the LCLS in place," said Bill White, head of the LCLS laser group. "The next step will be to synchronize and focus the initial beam."

"Just One Look,
That's All it Took"*

If you look to the right side of this page, you will discover a new section called "Access," where with just one look you can immediately learn what restrictions exist at SLAC regarding vehicular and foot traffic.

With the increased construction on site, it has become common for areas of the lab to be closed due to construction. It is frustrating to many that long-term or short-term road or foot-path closures are not posted in a readily-available, well-identified place. Sometimes, as happened last week with the final phase of the Kavli building landscaping, an unanticipated need to close off a main artery arises. To avoid inconvenience, frustration and, most importantly, safety lapses, everyone on site needs to be aware of upcoming closures including limited road accessibility, restricted building access, and parking reductions.

For this reason, I have asked those running SLAC Today to include a list of newly established, upcoming and current access limitations. At one glance, you can see all ongoing access restrictions. Right now these restrictions include:

- Gate 17 Hours Extended During
  Alpine Gate Shutdown
- Intermittent Narrowing of
  Loop Road Near Bldg. 35 and 81
- Alpine Gate Temporarily Closed
- Loop Road Near Kavli Building
  Temporarily Closed
- North Gallery Road Closed at
  Sector 20

These restrictions may change frequently, so check on this new feature every day. I am hopeful that this will add to day-to-day convenience and safety at the Lab.

Many thanks, as always, for your indulgence with these operational inconveniences.

*G. Carroll and D. Payne wrote the song with this title, which was one of three Top Ten hits in 1964 by the British rock group the Hollies.

Costing Guidelines Prepared for the ILC

by Elizabeth Clements,
    ILC NewsLine

While figuring out how to smash electrons and positrons at an energy level of 500 GeV in a tunnel that is approximately 25 kilometers long could be considered a minor challenge, one of the largest hurdles for the International Linear Collider is developing accurate costing estimates. While at first estimating the cost of something might not sound that hard (some of us do it almost every day for groceries, house supplies, and of course shoes), there are a number of factors that will make costing an extremely complicated process for a global project like the ILC.

Because costing is done differently in each region of the world, the Global Design Effort must develop a solid procedure for producing accurate estimates – something that is crucial for the success of the project. The GDE has been working diligently on researching costing methodologies that can yield "international" or "value" costs. These value costs must be reliably converted for different countries where such things as labor costs, risk assessment and engineering expenses are treated in different ways. As a result of six months of researching international costing and following the meeting in Bangalore, the Design and Cost Board drafted a set of Costing Guidelines for the Reference Design Report. The two-page document provides some preliminary guidelines. "We hope that this will be a useful start for producing estimates," said Peter Garbincius, Chair of the Design and Cost Board. "There will be more details to come, and we welcome your feedback."

The Costing Guidelines are available online (pdf).

View ILC NewsLine...

Events (see all | submit)

• April 3: (9:00 a.m.) International Symposium on the Development of Detectors
• April 4: (12:30 p.m.) Experimental Seminar: First Results on 0.15um CMOS SOI Pixel Detector

Access (see all)

• 4/3 - 4/7: Short Spur Road Off North Access Road Closed
• 3/31 - 4/30: Gate 17 Hours Extended During Alpine Gate Shutdown
• 3/28 - 4/30: Intermittent Narrowing of Loop Road Near Bldg. 35 and 81
• 3/27 - 4/28: Alpine Gate Temporarily Closed
• 1/01 - 4/17: Loop Road Near Kavli Building Temporarily Closed
• 1/01 - 4/30: North Gallery Road Closed at Sector 20

Announcements
(see all | submit)

 Lab Announcements

• Some Powerstrips from LabSafety Not Safe for SLAC
• Charging Time Off for Medical Appointments Involving Work-Related Illness

Community Bulletin Board

• Saul Gold Retires
• Al Ashley Fellowship Proposal Workshop

News (see all | submit)

• NASA Sets New Rules On Media   Washington Post
• Synchrotron expands innovation research with new funding   lightsources.org
• Galaxy simulation breaks new ground  Physics Web
• Scientists demonstrate quantum nature of entanglement swapping  PhysOrg.com

• Flea Market
• Linear Café Menu
• Employee Milestones
  
  
• Search the Archives
• Subscribe non-SLAC e-mail
• Send Us Your Feedback

What's Cookin' at the Linear Cafe (see weekly menu)

Monday
Breakfast Boosters	Scrambled eggs and bacon, cheese croissant with breakfast potatoes	$4.73
Hot	Cream of roasted tomato and basil or seafood gumbo with fresh okra	$2.35/$2.95
Taste	Garlic rubbed roast beef with onions or roasted turkey	$5.65
Good Food For You	Spaghetti with meatballs or vegetable marinara with seasonal vegetables and crunchy garlic bread	$4.95
Tossed	Fresh basil, tomato, goat cheese over spring mix with a balsamic vinaigrette	$5.25
Panini	Bay shrimp salad, red onion and tomato	$5.65
Sandwich Favorite	Bacon cheeseburger	$4.99