Division of accelerators, cryogenics and magnetism

The MADMAX project, which was launched in November 2016, is led by the Max Planck Institut für Physik in collaboration with several European institutes. The goal of the project is the discovery of axions with a mass of about 100 µeV, potential candidates for dark matter. To detect these axions, it is necessary to develop a specific detector consisting of an electromagnetic signal amplifier and a magnet proportional to the size of the amplifier and delivering a strong magnetic field. In order to validate the innovations in the fabrication of the magnet conductor, its cooling concept and the quench detection, a demonstrator has been designed, fabricated, integrated and tested between March 2020 and August 2021. It is named MACQU for MADMAX Coil for Quench Understanding. The entire design, from the conductor to the support structure, including the MACQU magnet, its thermal shield and the busbars, was carried out at the CEA. The demonstrator, manufactured by the industrial Bilfinger Noell GmbH, arrived in March 2021 and was successfully tested between May 18 and August 27, 2021. The analysis of the data now completed provides the desired answers and opens up unexpected new avenues of work. The feasibility of the cable concept, its cooling as well as the quench detection for the MADMAX magnet was demonstrated during these tests.

The MADMAX project, which was launched in November 2016, is led by the Max Planck Institut für Physik in collaboration with several European institutes. The goal of the project is the discovery of axions with a mass of about 100 µeV, potential candidates for dark matter. To detect these axions, it is necessary to develop a specific detector consisting of an electromagnetic signal amplifier and a magnet proportional to the size of the amplifier and delivering a strong magnetic field. In order to validate the innovations in the fabrication of the magnet conductor, its cooling concept and the quench detection, a demonstrator has been designed, fabricated, integrated and tested between March 2020 and August 2021. It is named MACQU for MADMAX Coil for Quench Understanding. The entire design, from the conductor to the support structure, including the MACQU magnet, its thermal shield and the busbars, was carried out at the CEA. The demonstrator, manufactured by the industrial Bilfinger Noell GmbH, arrived in March 2021 and was successfully tested between May 18 and August 27, 2021. The analysis of the data now completed provides the desired answers and opens up unexpected new avenues of work. The feasibility of the cable concept, its cooling as well as the quench detection for the MADMAX magnet was demonstrated during these tests.

The PIP-II (Proton Improvement Plan-II) project is the first particle accelerator to be built in the United States with major in-kind contributions from international partners. CEA/IRFU provides its expertise in the field of superconducting radio-frequency cryomodules and associated technologies. CEA/IRFU has been involved in this project since 2018, with a major contribution to the LB650 superconducting accelerator section, including the design studies, manufacture, and qualification of 10 cryomodules (each of them housing 4 superconducting accelerating cavities), i.e. 1 pre-production cryomodule and the 9 production cryomodules of the accelerator. A major milestone in the CEA/IRFU project was reached in April 2023, with the final design review of the LB650 cryomodule, validating 5 years of design activities. The project is now entering the pre-production cryomodule construction phase.