| 1984 | Department of Energy provides initial funding for
research, development and design (August 3) |
| 1984 |
Scientists interested in conducting research once the
facility is operational form a Users Group |
| 1985 | Hermann Grunder assumes first directorship in May |
| 1985 |
JLab adopts superconducting electron accelerating
technology |
| 1986 |
U.S. Congress appropriates funds for construction
(October) |
| 1987 | Construction begins on Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator
Facility (CEBAF) on February 13 |
| 1988 |
First successful tests of a cryounit, a section of
accelerator containing two superconducting radiofrequency accelerator cavities,
demonstrates feasibility of SRF in CEBAF (January) |
| 1988 |
DOE awards five-year management and operating contract to
SURA |
| 1990 |
Workers install Gray Ghost II, the first production
cryomodule - a modular section of accelerator for CEBAF - in the injector |
| 1991 |
CEBAF injector, the source of electrons for the
accelerator, reaches full design energy on March 30, accelerating an electron
beam to 45 MeV |
| 1991 |
CEBAF receives first of 80 patents (through early 2009) |
| 1993 |
Workers install Golden Girl, the last cryomodule needed to
complete CEBAF (December 23) |
| 1994 |
First time liquid helium coolant in CEBAF becomes
superfluid, allowing for stable operation of the electron beam. Helium in CEBAF
remained superfluid until Hurricane Isabel took the Central Helium Liquefier
down in 2001 |
| 1994 |
First beam is delivered to an experimental hall on July 1
(Hall C), marking the beginning of operations of the first large installation
of superconducting radiofrequency technology. |
| 1994 |
First beam is delivered to target on July 24 (Hall C) |
| 1995 |
First polarized electron beam delivered from polarized gun (February) |
| 1995 | Accelerator reaches design energy of 4 GeV (billion
electron volts); May 10, accomplished design energy in pulse mode; May 26, 4
GeV pulses delivered to target in Hall C; November 4, achieves full design goal
with a stable, five-pass 100 kW continuous 4 GeV beam delivered to Hall C |
| 1995 |
CEBAF, NASA and Digiray Corp. awarded the R&D 100 Award for work on the reverse geometry x-ray miniprobe (RGM). The system is being used to find cracks and corrosion in oil refinery piping |
| 1995 |
First physics experiment begins taking production data in
Hall C on November 15: "The Energy Dependence of Nucleon Propagation in
Nuclei as Measured in the (e, e'p) Reaction"; Commissioning data began in
October |
| 1996 | CEBAF changes name to the Thomas Jefferson National
Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab) at lab dedication on May 24 |
| 1996 | Free-Electron Laser (FEL) construction begins June 11 |
| 1996 |
Applied Research Center (ARC) breaks ground on May 19 |
| 1997 | Dilon
Technologies licenses Jefferson Lab detector technology for medical imaging for
diagnostics and research purposes, including detection of cancers in the
breast, thyroid, brain and prostate |
| 1997 |
Hall A begins taking data for its first experiment on May 19 |
| 1997 |
Vice President
Al Gore awards the Directives Review Team the Vice President's Hammer
Award for the simplification of the Environment, Health and Safety (EH&S)
requirements, a contribution in support of President Clinton's National
Performance Review (NPR) |
| 1997 |
First polarized electron beam used for experiment in Hall
A - 30 microamps at 35 percent polarization |
| 1997 |
Hall B begins taking data with the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer |
| 1998 |
Free-Electron Laser achieves first light at 155 watts - 28
times the existing power record - on June 17 |
| 1998 |
Five-pass, 4 GeV,
three-beam separation to all three experimental halls on June 19 |
| 1998 |
Commonwealth of Virginia and Science Museum of Virginia
name JLab Director Hermann A. Grunder the Outstanding Scientist of the Year |
| 1999 | Infrared Demo Free-Electron Laser surpasses 1 kW design
goal to achieve 1.72 kW on July 15 |
| 1999 | Installation of second polarized electron gun boosts
physics program |
| 2000 | CEBAF reaches enhanced design energy of 6.07 GeV (August
6) |
| 2000 | Jefferson Lab receives the contract to engineer and
assemble the superconducting accelerator, and to design and oversee
installation of the helium refrigeration plant for the Spallation Neutron
Source (SNS) for the Oak Ridge National Lab |
| 2001 | Pre-conceptual design report published on project to
upgrade the energy of the CEBAF accelerator to 12 GeV and to build a fourth
experimental hall |
| 2001 | Infrared Demo Free-Electron Laser achieves top output of
2.1 kW on July 12, more than double the original design goal |
| 2001 | Construction begins for the upgrade of the Free-Electron
Laser to reach 10 kilowatts infrared and one kilowatt of ultraviolet light |
| 2001 | SURA names Christoph W. Leemann as Jefferson Lab's new
director |
| 2001 | Jefferson Lab FEL terahertz radiation experiment
generates levels 20,000 times brighter than anyone else; November 2002 issue of
Nature subsequently publishes results |
| 2002 | The Spallation Neutron Source in Oak Ridge receives the
first Jefferson Lab designed and built cryomodule |
| 2003 | Dirk Walecka, College of William & Mary physics
professor and former scientific director of CEBAF, is named Virginia's Life
Achievement in Science recipient |
| 2003 | Jefferson Lab conducts a novel experiment with the
Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator to determine the feasibility and
effectiveness of energy-recovery technology, which could lead to the
development of a new class of particle accelerators |
| 2003 | DOE's 20-year facility plan names Jefferson Lab's 12 GeV
Upgrade one of the 12 near-term priorities |
| 2004 | Anatoly Rayushkin, a jointly appointed physics professor
at Old Dominion University and senior scientist at Jefferson Lab, is named a
Virginia Outstanding Scientist |
| 2004 | Jefferson Lab's 12 GeV Upgrade achieves Critical
Decision-Zero (CD-0), a DOE designation that recognizes the "mission
need" for the Upgrade and allows the lab to develop conceptual,
acquisition and project execution plans (April 19) |
| 2004 | Jefferson Lab scientists complete 100th experiment with
CEBAF in March |
| 2004 | Construction begins on the CEBAF Center Addition, which
creates 60,000 square feet of office space |
| 2004 | Free-Electron Laser achieves 10 kilowatts (Infrared) July
21 |
| 2005 | A positron emission mammography unit designed and built by
Jefferson Lab scientists proves capable of distinguishing small breast tumors |
| 2005 | Jefferson Lab produces first single-crystal niobium
accelerating cavity prototype in a proposed design for the planned
International Linear Collider (ILC) |
| 2005 | Jefferson Lab delivers final cryomodule for the
Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Lab |
| 2005 | Free-Electron Laser earns R&D 100 Award |
| 2006 | Dilon Technologies sells first breast-specific gamma
imaging production unit to a clinic in Las Vegas; the Dilon 6800 Gamma Camera
has proven to be an effective tool in the early detection of breast cancer and
in the differentiation of malignant and benign tumors |
| 2006 | Occupancy begins upon completion of CEBAF Center addition
in January |
| 2006 | 12 GeV Upgrade Project receives Critical Decision-1
approval from the Department of Energy, allowing for project engineering and design
efforts to begin |
| 2006 | Jefferson Science Associates, LLC, signs contract to
manage Jefferson Lab (April 14); new contract effective April 17 |
| 2007 | Upgrade Free-Electron Laser surpasses 10 kW design to
achieve 14.2 kW in the infrared on Oct. 30 |
| 2007 | 12 GeV Upgrade Project receives Critical Decision-2
approval from the Department of Energy, authorizing the final design phase to
begin and allowing a request for the project's construction funding to be
included in a federal budget. |
| 2007 |
Cryogenics Group wins prestigious White House Award for
major energy-saving advancements June 12 |
| 2008 |
Hugh E. Montgomery appointed Jefferson Lab director,
assumes office on September 2 |
| 2008 |
12 GeV Upgrade receives CD-3 approval from the Department
of Energy, clearing the way for construction to begin on the $310 million
project September 15 |
| 2009 |
All three
halls ran polarized experimental targets (target particles spin in unison)
while also receiving polarized beam for the first time on February 4 |
| 2009 |
152 experiments completed (April) |
| 2009 |
Construction begins on 12 GeV Upgrade |
| 2009 |
Site Clearing begins for Hall D construction |
