During the first three years since May 2022, FRIB has been operating safely meeting expectations of both scientific and industrial users with high machine availability, while ramping up the beam power to 20 kW for heavy ions including uranium. The paper summarizes the operational experience and challenges, accelerator improvement projects, expansions in user stations, accelerator R&D and workforce growth programs, and preparation for facility upgrades*.

Cameras observing scintillating viewers provide a valuable tool for tuning heavy ion beams. The close placement of these cameras near intense stray neutron and ion radiation, particularly at elements intercepting the primary beam, presents a unique reliability challenge. Commercial solutions are sparse, expensive, and sometimes tightly regulated. We present common failure modes observed at FRIB and propose solutions to extend the lifespan of unspecialized industrial cameras using consumer-grade hardware and open-source software.

The Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB), operating at Michigan State University since 2022, produces a variety of nuclear species via fragmentation or fission. Heavy ions are accelerated by the FRIB LINAC to energies of >170 MeV/u which impinge on mm-thick graphite targets to make the RIs in-flight. The resulting cocktail of ions are separated and purified with the Advanced Rare Isotope Separator (ARIS). Magnetic separation of isotopes with the same A/Z ratio is performed with an achromatic energy degrader or wedge. As the first stage of ARIS involves a momentum compression of k=3, the pre-separator wedge geometric cross section is more complex than a simple isosceles triangle, having a parabolic shape to reduce aberrations. Wedge inhomogeneities from imperfect machining or within the material itself (e.g., bubbles, density variations) can adversely affect the beam's phase space, resulting in a larger beam spot size and lower transmission. Here we report a comparison of different wedge materials using standard beam diagnostics from viewers and position-sensitive detectors. Particular attention is paid to the calibration procedure for parallel plate avalanche counters (PPACs).

A new capability for heavy-ion single-event effects (SEE) testing in electronics systems has been implemented on the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) linear accelerator, providing beams to users in the ~10 – 40 MeV/nucleon range. We discuss the design and implementation of the FRIB SEE (FSEE) beamline and user interfaces including descriptions of: (i) the beamline optical lattice and layout; (ii) establishment and changing of linac tunes to support testing requirements; (iii) ion source development to support fast and frequent beam changes; and (iv) dosimetry instrumentation and user support infrastructure. We review operational experience and include discussion of ongoing development efforts in dosimetry and facility capabilities to deliver high-flux, short-pulse heavy ion beams. Development of the K500 cyclotron into a dedicated facility, and options for a high energy beamline are introduced.