Assembly of the DQW Crab Cavity Cryomodule for SPS Test

RF Crab Cavities are an essential part of the High Luminosity Upgrade of the LHC accelerating complex. Two concepts of such superconducting systems are being developed: the Double Quarter Wave (DQW) and the RF Dipole (RFD). A prototype cryomodule - hosting two DQW cavities - has been fabricated and assembled for validation tests to be carried out in the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) at CERN. An overview of the main cryomodule components is presented, together with the system features and main fabrication requirements. The preparatory measures for cryomodule assembly, the execution and lessons learned are also discussed

Status of the HL-LHC Crab Cavity Tuner

The resonance frequency of the HL-LHC Double Quarter Wave (DQW) and Radio Frequency Dipole (RFD) crab cavities is set to the operating frequency of 400.79 MHz by deforming the cavities. For both types of cavities, the tuning principle foresees a symmetric mechanical deformation of parts of the cavities in vertical direction, with the tuner motor placed outside on top of the vacuum vessel. The tuner design was successfully tested on the DQW prototype cryomodule with two cavities in 2018 in the SPS at CERN. This paper describes the design of DQW and RFD crab tuners. The experience and results of assembly and cold testing is given together with some required improvements. Finally, the final series crab tuners preparation is reported

Design of Crab Cavity Cryomodule for HL-LHC

Crab cavities are a key element to achieve the HL-LHC performance goals. There are two types of cavities Double Quarter Wave (DQW) for vertical crabbing, and Radiofrequency Dipole (RFD) for horizontal crabbing. Cavities are hosted in a cryomodule to provide optimal conditions for their operation at 2K while minimizing the external thermal loads and stray magnetic fields. One crab cryomodule contains more than thirteen thousand components and the assembly procedure for the first DQW prototype was carefully planned and executed. It was installed in the SPS accelerator at CERN in 2018 and successfully tested with proton beams. A review has thus been performed right after completion of the assembly in order to gather all the experience acquired and improve accordingly the design of the next generation of crab cryomodules. A second cryomodule with two RFD cavities is currently under production. This paper presents the lessons learnt from the first assembly and their implementation to the design of the future crab cryomodules

Crab cavity and cryomodule development for HL-LHC

The HL-LHC project aims at increasing the LHC luminosity by a factor 10 beyond the design value. The installation of a set of RF Crab Cavities to increase bunch crossing angle is one of the key upgrades of the program. Two concepts, Double Quarter Wave (DQW) and RF Dipole (RFD) have been proposed and are being produced in parallel for test in the SPS beam before the next long shutdown of CERN accelerator’s complex. In the retained concept, two cavities are hosted in one single cryomodule, providing thermal insulation and interfacing with RF coupling, tuning, cryogenics and beam vacuum. This paper overviews the main design choices for the cryomodule and its different components, which have the goal of optimizing the structural, thermal and electro-magnetic behavior of the system, while respecting the existing constraints in terms of integration in the accelerator environment. Prototyping and testing of the most critical components, manufacturing, preparation and installation strategies are also described

Role of sulphuric acid, ammonia and galactic cosmic rays in atmospheric aerosol nucleation

Atmospheric aerosols exert an important influence on climate1 through their effects on stratiform cloud albedo and lifetime2 and the invigoration of convective storms3. Model calculations suggest that almost half of the global cloud condensation nuclei in the atmospheric boundary layer may originate from the nucleation of aerosols from trace condensable vapours4, although the sensitivity of the number of cloud condensation nuclei to changes of nucleation rate may be small5, 6. Despite extensive research, fundamental questions remain about the nucleation rate of sulphuric acid particles and the mechanisms responsible, including the roles of galactic cosmic rays and other chemical species such as ammonia7. Here we present the first results from the CLOUD experiment at CERN. We find that atmospherically relevant ammonia mixing ratios of 100 parts per trillion by volume, or less, increase the nucleation rate of sulphuric acid particles more than 100–1,000-fold. Time-resolved molecular measurements reveal that nucleation proceeds by a base-stabilization mechanism involving the stepwise accretion of ammonia molecules. Ions increase the nucleation rate by an additional factor of between two and more than ten at ground-level galactic-cosmic-ray intensities, provided that the nucleation rate lies below the limiting ion-pair production rate. We find that ion-induced binary nucleation of H2SO4–H2O can occur in the mid-troposphere but is negligible in the boundary layer. However, even with the large enhancements in rate due to ammonia and ions, atmospheric concentrations of ammonia and sulphuric acid are insufficient to account for observed boundary-layer nucleation