HL-LHC-UK Phase 2

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Crab cavities are a key technology required to increase the total number of collisions on LHC by a factor of 10. The state of the art superconducting radio-frequency cavities are ultra-precise and compact for compatibility with existing LHC infrastructure. The devices compensate the geometric crossing angle of proton bunches at the interaction points. In this project the UK team will build and test 4 of the 8 (+2 spare) cryomodules required for LHC. The project includes large sections of cryogenic parts that can be produced by UK industry.

In this project the UK team will either develop or retain skills in SRF cavity/cryomodule production and testing. The team at STFC/Lancaster University are closely linked to all major RF based accelerator projects in the UK, and hence we are well placed to ensure that skills developed/retained in this project can be applied to future projects. Internationally the UK team are involved in SRF production and testing for ESS and PIP-II, utilising the skills developed in phase I of this project. The team will keep abreast of developments in UK-FEL, ISIS upgrade and FCC crab cavities for opportunities to utilise the skills from this project.

Daresbury are currently involved in three major construction projects, with CLARA, ESS and ELI-NP all due to end in 2020. Several vacuum, clean room and cryogenic technicians will have been trained in this time for ESS. It is proposed that many of these people would be ideal to work on HL-LHC-UK cryomodule production; hence this would enable highly-skilled staff retention. There are also strong overlaps with future proposed work at Daresbury for DUNE at Fermilab in the US, with similar facilities and staff required.