First Year of Operations in the HiRadMat facility

HiRadMat (High Irradiation to Materials) is a new facility at CERN constructed in 2011. It is designed to provide a test area where the effect of high intensity pulsed beams on materials or accelerator component assemblies can be studied. The HiRadMat facility is situated in the former West Area Neutrino Facility (WANF) target tunnel and is about 35 m below ground. It takes the fast extracted beam from the long straight section LSS6 of SPS, the same used for the TI2 injection line to LHC. For 2012, the first year of operations of the facility, 9 experiments were scheduled and completed data-taking successfully. The experience gained in operating this unique facility, along with highlights of the experiments and the instrumentation developed for online measurements are reported

AWAKE Phase II

AWAKE is the first proof-of-concept proton-driven plasma wakefield acceleration experiment. AWAKE’s first phase concluded in 2018, with controlled acceleration of electrons to energies of 2 GeV in a 10-m long plasma cell. AWAKE’s second phase operates since 2021 and aims to prove, step by step, that good electron beam parameters can be obtained reliably and consistently, also with scalable plasma cell technolo-gies. To continue phase two, the AWAKE facility needs to more than double its footprint to house new beam equipment and infrastructure. This requires the dis-mantling of the irradiated CNGS target cavern, after which the AWAKE experiment will start operating with a 20-metres plasma cell. After showing AWAKE’s physics results and configurations, this paper will address the challenges of running and coordinating the AWAKE facility, and study the feasibility of its future requirements for what concerns integration, installation, infrastructure, and safety, including the dismantling of the CNGS target cavern

AWAKE from Run 2a to Run 2b

AWAKE is the first proof-of-concept proton-driven plasma wakefield acceleration experiment. AWAKE’s first phase concluded in 2018, with controlled acceleration of electrons to energies of 2 GeV in a 10-m long plasma cell. AWAKE’s second phase operates since 2021. It has been divided into four stages (Run 2a, Run 2b, Run 2c and Run 2d) to prove step by step good that the required electron beam parameters can be obtained reliably and consistently. The transition from Run 2a to Run 2b, which is scheduled for the first semester of 2023, includes the decommissioning of the current vapor source as well as the installation of a new 10-meter-long step density plasma source. After summarising the motivation for the AWAKE Run 2 programme, this paper will describe the preparation works for such an installation, the challenges linked to the infrastructure and the implementation of scheduling tools for the coordination of the facility

How to Manage a Large Scale Beam Line Consolidation in a Highly Activated Area?

The TDC2/TCC2 consolidation is a good example showing how the complexity of interventions in high radiation areas has increased over the last five years. Due to its duration, its dispersion, the diversity of the teams involved, the fixed deadlines, the risks and external constraints, this worksite prefigures large scale-interventions in the LHC during long shutdown 2 (LS2) and even more LS3. The paper describes the three main project phases: preparation, execution (including monitoring and control) and closure emphasizing the indispensable steps in each stage. It also explains why integrating scope, schedule and dose into a single baseline is of prime importance and shows how to manage and monitor the radiation safety performance of the various interventions throughout the execution phase. Eventually, some recommendations are formulated in order to better accommodate the design of high radiation areas to their operation and maintenance constraints

CERN AWAKE Facility Readiness for First Beam

The AWAKE project at CERN was approved in August 2013 and since then a big effort was made to be able to probe the acceleration of electrons before the "2019-2020 Long Shutdown". The next steps in this challenging schedule will be a dry run of all the beam line systems, at the end of the HW commissioning in June 2016, and the first proton beam sent to the plasma cell one month later. The current status of the project is presented together with an outlook over the foreseen works for operation with electrons in 2018

Particle physics applications of the AWAKE acceleration scheme

The AWAKE experiment had a very successful Run 1 (2016-8), demonstrating proton-driven plasma wakefield acceleration for the first time, through the observation of the modulation of a long proton bunch into micro-bunches and the acceleration of electrons up to 2 GeV in 10 m of plasma. The aims of AWAKE Run 2 (2021-4) are to have high-charge bunches of electrons accelerated to high energy, about 10 GeV, maintaining beam quality through the plasma and showing that the process is scalable. The AWAKE scheme is therefore a promising method to accelerate electrons to high energy over short distances and so develop a useable technology for particle physics experiments. Using proton bunches from the SPS, the acceleration of electron bunches up to about 50 GeV should be possible. Using the LHC proton bunches to drive wakefields could lead to multi-TeV electron bunches, e.g. with 3 TeV acceleration achieved in 4 km of plasma. This document outlines some of the applications of the AWAKE scheme to particle physics and shows that the AWAKE technology could lead to unique facilities and experiments that would otherwise not be possible. In particular, experiments are proposed to search for dark photons, measure strong field QED and investigate new physics in electron--proton collisions. The community is also invited to consider applications for electron beams up to the TeV scale

Awake: the Proof-of-principle R&D; Experiment at CERN

The Advanced Proton Driven Plasma Wakefield Acceleration Experiment (AWAKE) is a proof-of-principle R&D; experiment at CERN. It is the world’s first proton driven plasma wakefield acceleration experiment, using a high-energy proton bunch to drive a plasma wakefield for electron beam acceleration. The AWAKE experiment will be installed in the former CNGS facility and uses the 400 GeV proton beam bunches from the SPS, which will be sent to a plasma source. An electron beam will be injected into the plasma cell to probe the accelerating wakefield. Challenging modifications in the area and new installations are required for AWAKE. First proton beam to the experiment is expected late 2016. The accelerating electron physics will start late 2017. This paper gives an overview of the project from a physics and engineering point of view, it describes the main activities, the milestones, the organizational set-up for the project management and coordination

Integration of a Terawatt Laser at the CERN SPS Beam for the AWAKE Experiment on Proton-Driven Plasma Wake Acceleration

In the AWAKE experiment a high-power laser pulse ionizes rubidium atoms inside a 10 m long vapor cell thus creating a plasma for proton-driven wakefield acceleration of electrons. Propagating co-axial with the SPS proton beam the laser pulse seeds the self-modulation instability within the proton bunch on the front of plasma creation. The same laser will also generate UV-pulses for production of a witness electron beam using an RF-photoinjector. The experimental area formerly occupied by CNGS facility is being modified to accommodate the AWAKE experiment. A completely new laser laboratory was built, taking into account specific considerations related to underground work. The requirements for AWAKE laser installation have been fulfilled and vacuum beam lines for delivery of laser beams to the plasma cell and RF-photoinjector have been constructed. First results of laser beam hardware commissioning tests following the laser installation will be presented

AWAKE++: The AWAKE Acceleration Scheme for New Particle Physics Experiments at CERN

The AWAKE experiment reached all planned milestones during Run 1 (2016-18), notably the demonstration of strong plasma wakes generated by proton beams and the acceleration of externally injected electrons to multi-GeV energy levels in the proton driven plasma wakefields. During Run~2 (2021 - 2024) AWAKE aims to demonstrate the scalability and the acceleration of electrons to high energies while maintaining the beam quality. Assuming continued success of the AWAKE program, AWAKE will be in the position to use the AWAKE scheme for particle physics applications such as fixed target experiments for dark photon searches and also for future electron-proton or electron-ion colliders. With strong support from the accelerator and high energy physics community, these experiments could be installed during CERN LS3; integration and beam line design studies show the feasibility of a fixed target experiment in the AWAKE facility, downstream of the AWAKE experiment in the former CNGS area. The expected electrons on target for fixed target experiments exceeds the electrons on target by three to four orders of magnitude with respect to the current NA64 experiment, making it a very promising experiment in the search for new physics. Studies show that electrons can be accelerated to 70 GeV in a 130 m long plasma cell installed in an extended TI 2 extraction tunnel from SPS to the LHC and transported to collision with protons/ions from the LHC. The experiment would focus on studies of the structure of matter and QCD in a new kinematic domain. The AWAKE scheme offers great potential for future high energy physics applications and it is the right moment now to support further development of this technology leading to unique facilities