Speaker
Description
Within the CERN accelerator complex, and towards the high-brightness future of the upcoming HL-LHC upgrade, the exact benchmarking of simulation models and the understanding of the various materials thresholds under the effects of a high-power proton beam is critical. The HiRadMat (High Radiation to Materials) facility of the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) was commissioned in 2011 (1) and since then has been serving the accelerator community worldwide as a testbench for such experiments (2).
High-intensity LHC-like proton beam pulses are extracted from the SPS towards HiRadMat, with a maximum stored beam energy of 2.4 MJ and a variable size range of 0.25 – 2 mm. In recent years, the HiRadMat facility has evolved significantly towards a better control of the beam parameters involving automated procedures of logging and beam-based alignment of various experimental setups. A comprehensive upgrade project is currently ongoing to increase the available intensities up to the HL-LHC maximum of 2.3x1011 per bunch, corresponding to a maximum energy of 4.7 MJ, by 2024.
Since the last long shutdown, experiments conducted in the facility have covered a wide range of topics, from various accelerator equipment tests to fundamental plasma physics phenomena research, as well as for materials studies for diverse applications. The HiRadMat facility is available from today until CERN’s Long Shutdown, planned in 2026, to accommodate high-power targetry-related experiments, providing transnational access and financial support in the framework of EURO-LABS to eligible experimental teams. An overview of the facility’s capabilities and the performed experiments are being presented in this contribution.
(1) Efthymiopoulos, I.; Evrard, S.; Gaillard, H.; Grenier, D.; Hessler, C. HiRadMat: A New Irradiation Facility for Material Testing at CERN. Proc. 2nd Int. Particle Accelerator Conf. (IPAC’11) 2011.
(2) Harden, F. J.; Bouvard, A.; Charitonidis, N.; Kadi, Y. HiRadMat: A Facility Beyond the Realms of Materials Testing. J. Phys. Conf. Ser. 2019, 1350 (1), 012162. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1350/1/012162.
| Themes for the contribution | 5 Target facility challenges: |
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