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*.

To meet the beam power requirements of 400 KW for heavy ions at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB), the Electron Cyclotron Resonance (ECR) Ion Source needs to operate at a full 28 GHz radio frequency. The ECR magnet is required to generate a corresponding stable high magnetic field, which is a superposition of the solenoid field and the radial sextupole field. A precise alignment between the magnet and the plasma chamber is required to reduce the differences in the six weak field positions on the chamber wall, thereby reducing local overheating. In this study, a 3D magnetic model was developed to analyze the electromagnetic (EM) performance of the magnet. This paper also introduced a tailored mapper designed to scan the 3D field map of the magnet. From the high harmonic analysis results, the misalignment between the magnetic center and the beamline was calculated, and the subsequent position adjustment was made with the support link control. The azimuthal angle and axial position of the six weak field were estimated at various operating scenarios, providing guidance to improve the design of the plasma chamber for high-power ECR beam operation.