Taking a closer look at LHC

HOME	LHC	PHYSICS AT LHC	DETECTORS	STANDARD MODEL
CERN	EDUCATION	LINKS	NEWS & MORE	GLOSSARY

UPGRADING SUPERCONDUCTIVITY

The magnet programs carried out around the world within the framework of LHC were successful in pushing this technology to the required level of maturity, but they also clearly demonstrated that NbTi technology has achieved its performance limit (around 9 T). In order to go beyond (and cross the 10 T threshold while maintaining proper operational temperature margin), it is necessary to change the superconductor material.

Nb₃Sn is the only other superconducting material that can be seriously considered within the 10-year time frame left between now and the 2015 target for the replacement of IR magnets. Nb₃Sn has the potential to operate in the 10 to 15 T range, but it has one disadvantage: once formed it becomes brittle and its properties are strain sensitive.
In the USA, the Department of Energy has promoted efforts on Nb₃Sn R&D for several years. These activities are now funded and coordinated through the US-LHC Accelerator Research Program (LARP).
In parallel, a consortium of 7 European institutes (CCLRC/RAL in the UK, CEA in France, CERN, CIEMAT in Spain, INFN in Italy, Twente University in the Netherlands and Wroclaw University of Technology in Poland) is working on the so-called Next European Dipole (NED). This Joint Research Activity is embedded in the Coordinated Accelerator Research Project in Europe (CARE) project partly funded by the European Commission.

NED and LARP goals are fully compatible and complementary. Rather than competing, NED and LARP goals are synergistic –each supports the other. Both NED and LARP are vigorously encouraged by CERN.

	KINEMATICS
	FORCES
	MOMENTUM
	ENERGY
	LOW TEMPERATURE
	MAGNETISM
	ELECTRICITY
	SUPERCONDUCTIVITY
	LUMINOSITY
	CROSS SECTION
	RELATIVITY
	SYNCHROTRON RADIATION
	IONIZING RADIATION
	BLACK HOLES?

The magnet programs carried out around the world within the framework of LHC were successful in pushing this technology to the required level of maturity, but they also clearly demonstrated that NbTi technology has achieved its performance limit (around 9 T). In order to go beyond (and cross the 10 T threshold while maintaining proper operational temperature margin), it is necessary to change the superconductor material.
Nb₃Sn is the only other superconducting material that can be seriously considered within the 10-year time frame left between now and the 2015 target for the replacement of IR magnets. Nb₃Sn has the potential to operate in the 10 to 15 T range, but it has one disadvantage: once formed it becomes brittle and its properties are strain sensitive. In the USA, the Department of Energy has promoted efforts on Nb₃Sn R&D for several years. These activities are now funded and coordinated through the US-LHC Accelerator Research Program (LARP). In parallel, a consortium of 7 European institutes (CCLRC/RAL in the UK, CEA in France, CERN, CIEMAT in Spain, INFN in Italy, Twente University in the Netherlands and Wroclaw University of Technology in Poland) is working on the so-called Next European Dipole (NED). This Joint Research Activity is embedded in the Coordinated Accelerator Research Project in Europe (CARE) project partly funded by the European Commission.
NED and LARP goals are fully compatible and complementary. Rather than competing, NED and LARP goals are synergistic –each supports the other. Both NED and LARP are vigorously encouraged by CERN.