Hall B CLAS Detector

The Jefferson Alignment group has developed a number of software packages to maximize the efficiency of aligment tasks. Accelerator alignment is unique in that it combines two disciplines, industrial metrology and high precision geodesy.

Industrial metrology covers the area of science dealing with 'micro geodesy'. This field involves the precise measurement of objects, usually covering a volume of a few cubic meters. Commercial Industrial metrology software packages are available from various vendors. They are very good at handling data that is localized, and within the confines of a small volume. With accelerators, the overall dimension of objects to be aligned can be several kilometers. Accelerators are generally so large that geodetic calculations must be applied in order to ensure the accuracy required by the physics experiments is meet. There are no commercial products that cover both areas.

The aim of this page is to highlight the alignment software packages that we have developed and currently are developing here at Jefferson Lab.