D-Pace Presents 2026 NIBS Award Winners

D-Pace is proud to sponsor the NIBS Award in recognition of innovative and significant recent achievements in the fields of physics, theory, technology, and applications of negative ion sources, low energy beam transport, and diagnostics.

The 2026 NIBS Award was presented to Dr. Baoxi Han and Dr. Robert Welton of the SNS H⁻ Injector R&D Team at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), USA, for their outstanding contribution:

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“Advancing the beam current frontier of H⁻ ion sources at high duty-factor with demonstrated beam quality and operational reliability for multi-megawatt proton accelerators.”

The award consists of a $5,000 USD prize and is selected by the NIBS International Advisory Committee through a strict and comprehensive nomination process.  The purpose of the award is to recognize outstanding recent contributions to the negative ion beam community.

The team’s work has significantly advanced the performance of RF-driven H⁻ ion sources, demonstrating record beam currents while maintaining the beam quality, reliability, and operational stability required for modern high-power accelerator facilities. 

D-Pace CEO Richard McElroy presented the award plaques to Dr. Han and Dr. Welton at NIBS 2026. We extend our sincere congratulations to the recipients on this well-deserved achievement.

We would also like to thank Dr. Morgan Dehnel for his dedicated work as the 2026 NIBS International Chairperson.