New local field quantity describing the high gradient limit of accelerating structures

A new local field quantity is presented which gives the high gradient performance limit of accelerating structures due to vacuum rf breakdown. The new field quantity, a modified Poynting vector S_{c}, is derived from a model of the breakdown trigger in which field emission currents from potential breakdown sites cause local pulsed heating. The field quantity S_{c} takes into account both active and reactive power flow on the structure surface. This new quantity has been evaluated for many X-band and 30 GHz rf tests, both traveling wave and standing wave, and the value of S_{c} achieved in the experiments agrees well with analytical estimates

Carbon coating of the SPS dipole chambers

The Electron Multipacting (EM) phenomenon is a limiting factor for the achievement of high luminosity in accelerators for positively charged particles and for the performance of RF devices. At CERN, the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) must be upgraded in order to feed the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) with 25 ns bunch spaced beams. At such small bunch spacing, EM may limit the performance of the SPS and consequently that of the LHC. To mitigate this phenomenon CERN is developing a carbon thin film coating with low Secondary Electron Yield (SEY) to coat the internal walls of the SPS dipoles beam pipes. This paper presents the progresses in the coating technology, the performance of the carbon coatings and the strategy for a large scale production.Comment: 7 pages, contribution to the Joint INFN-CERN-EuCARD-AccNet Workshop on Electron-Cloud Effects: ECLOUD'12; 5-9 Jun 2012, La Biodola, Isola d'Elba, Italy; CERN Yellow Report CERN-2013-002, pp.141-14

High Power RF Induced Thermal Fatigue in the High Gradient CLIC Accelerating Structures

The need for high accelerating gradients for the CLIC (Compact Linear Collider) imposes considerable constraints on the materials of the accelerating structures. The surfaces exposed to high pulsed RF (Radio Frequency) currents are subjected to cyclic thermal stresses possibly resulting in surface break up by fatigue. Various high strength alloys from the group of high conductivity copper alloys have been selected and have been tested in different states, with different surface treatments and in different stress ratios. Low to medium cycle fatigue data (up to 108 cycles) of fully compressive surface thermal stresses has been collected by means of a pulsed laser surface heating apparatus. The surface damage has been characterized by SEM observations and roughness measurements. High cycle fatigue data, up to 7x1010 cycles, of varying stress ratio has been collected in high frequency bulk fatigue tests using an ultrasonic apparatus. Up-to-date results from these experiments are presented

Advanced Experimental Techniques for RF and DC Breakdown Research

Advanced experimental techniques are being developed to analyze RF and DC breakdown events. First measurements with a specially built spectrometer have been made with a DC spark setup [1] at CERN and will soon be installed in the CLIC 30GHz accelerating structure test stand to allow comparison between DC and RF breakdown phenomena. This spectrometer is able to measure the light intensity development during a breakdown in narrow wavelength bands in the visible and near infrared range. This will give information about the important aspects of the breakdown including chemical elements, temperature, plasma parameters and possibly precursors of a breakdown

Role of surface microgeometries on electron escape probability and secondary electron yield of metal surfaces

The influence of microgeometries on the Secondary Electron Yield (SEY) of surfaces is investigated. Laser written structures of different aspect ratio (height to width) on a copper surface tuned the SEY of the surface and reduced its value to less than unity. The aspect ratio of microstructures was methodically controlled by varying the laser parameters. The results obtained corroborate a recent theoretical model of SEY reduction as a function of the aspect ratio of microstructures. Nanostructures - which are formed inside the microstructures during the interaction with the laser beam - provided further reduction in SEY comparable to that obtained in the simulation of structures which were coated with an absorptive layer suppressing secondary electron emission

Status of the Fatigue Studies on the CLIC Accelerating Structures

The need for high accelerating gradients for the future multi-TeV e+e- Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) imposes considerable constraints on the materials of the accelerating structures. The surfaces exposed to high pulsed RF (Radio Frequency) currents are subject to cyclic thermal stresses which are expected to induce surface break up by fatigue. Since no fatigue data exists in the literature up to very large numbers of cycles and for the particular stress pattern present in RF cavities, a comprehensive study of copper alloys in this parameter range has been initiated. Fatigue data for selected copper alloys in different states are presente

Microwave apparatus for gravitational waves observation

In this report the theoretical and experimental activities for the development of superconducting microwave cavities for the detection of gravitational waves are presented.Comment: 42 pages, 28 figure

Status of the HIE-ISOLDE project at CERN

The HIE-ISOLDE project represents a major upgrade of the ISOLDE nuclear facility with a mandate to significantly improve the quality and increase the intensity and energy of radioactive nuclear beams produced at CERN. The project will expand the experimental nuclear physics programme at ISOLDE by focusing on an upgrade of the existing Radioactive ion beam EXperiment (REX) linac with a 40 MV superconducting linac comprising thirty-two niobium-on-copper sputter-coated quarter-wave resonators housed in six cryomodules. The new linac will raise the energy of post-accelerated beams from 3 MeV/u to over 10 MeV/u. The upgrade will be staged to first deliver beam energies of 5.5 MeV/u using two high-$\beta$ cryomodules placed downstream of REX, before the energy variable section of the existing linac is replaced with two low-$\beta$ cryomodules and two additional high-$\beta$ cryomodules are installed to attain over 10 MeV/u with full energy variability above 0.45 MeV/u. An overview of the project including a status summary of the different R&D activities and the schedule will outlined.Comment: 7 pages, 12 figures, submitted to the Heavy Ion Accelerator Technology conference (HIAT) 2012, in Chicag

Study of the discharge gas trapping during thin film growth

Discharge gas trapping in thin films produced by sputtering is known to be due to high energy neutrals bouncing back from the cathode. Qualitatively, the phenomenon is enhanced by raising the discharge voltage and is strongly dependent on the atomic masses of the discharge gas and of the cathode material. In addition to these known effects it is shown that, for a given gas, the trapped amount decreases with increasing the melting temperature of the deposited material. The results obtained both by sample melting and laser ablation are presented and discussed