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Division of accelerators, cryogenics and magnetism

Institute of research into the fundamental laws of the Universe

Testing the MQYYM superconducting magnet in the STAARQ station: multiple achievements

Oct 23, 2024

Testing the MQYYM superconducting magnet in the STAARQ station: multiple achievements

The STAARQ team has successfully commissioned the STAARQ test station, including the 1.9K cryogenic process. The team demonstrated at the same time exceptional performance from the MQYYM quadrupole magnet manufactured by IRFU for the HL-LHC project.

Ten years of intense collaborative work between the DACM and DIS teams at IRFU culminated during the summer of 2024 in the successful testing of the MQYYM mock-up superconducting magnet in the new quadrupole accelerator magnet test station, STAARQ.

Apr 03, 2024

Iseult unveils its 1st unique images to the world

The Iseult project has unveiled the first human brain images obtained using a 11.7 teslas MRI, after almost 25 years of work. This world first was made possible thanks to the commitment of over 200 CEA employees, who believed in this extremely ambitious project from the very beginning In the early 2000s, a Franco-German project was launched to develop ultra-high resolution imaging. One of the objectives was to build an imager whose key component was a superconducting magnet reaching 11.

Iseult unveils its 1st unique images to the world

8 December 2023: Inauguration of the PEPR Suprafusion project

Dec 08, 2023

8 December 2023: Inauguration of the PEPR Suprafusion project

The PEPR Suprafusion, proposed by the CEA and the CNRS, is the winner of the third wave of calls for

The PEPR Suprafusion (Priority Equipment Programme for Exploratory Research), proposed by CEA and CNRS, is the winner of the third wave of calls for projects under the France 2030 plan. The €50 million funding will enable the development of high-temperature superconductors to meet tomorrow's energy and societal challenges, particularly with applications in the field of fusion.

Nov 27, 2023

SARAF: two IRFU successes in 2023!

IRFU successfully qualified the medium-energy line delivered to Soreq in 2020 after just a few hundred hours of beam, and delivered the first cryomodule for the future linear accelerator.

Thanks to the expertise developed by the CEA during the SPIRAL2 and IFMIF projects, in 2014 the CEA signed a contract with the Soreq Nuclear Research Centre (SNRC, Israel) to build a superconducting linear accelerator called SARAF (Soreq Applied Research Accelerator Facility). The aim is to build an accelerator capable of delivering proton and deuteron beams with energies ranging from 5 to 40 MeV and intensities of up to 5 mA.

SARAF: two IRFU successes in 2023!

The US Department of Energy (DOE) and the CEA sign a

Nov 15, 2023

The US Department of Energy (DOE) and the CEA sign a "statement of interest" in the EIC project

EIC is a future electron-ion collider at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) that will probe the internal structure of nucleons and nuclei with unprecedented precision.

The CEA and the DOE have a long and fruitful collaboration in many fields, including fusion, high-energy physics and nuclear physics, with ongoing projects bringing the two organisations together in these different areas.

Jul 27, 2023

CEA/IRFU completes final design review of cryomodule for Fermilab's future superconducting linear proton accelerator

CEA/IRFU has completed the final design of the LB650 cryomodule for the linear accelerator in the PIP-II (Proton Improvement Plan II) project, an essential enhancement to the Fermilab accelerator complex that will supply neutrinos to the DUNE experiment.

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 completes final design review of cryomodule for Fermilab's future superconducting linear proton accelerator

Getting started with MRI 11.7 T Iseult: details review

Jun 02, 2023

Getting started with MRI 11.7 T Iseult: details review

The commissioning of the 11.7 T Iseult MRI in 2021 crowned almost 20 years of AOC research and development. In an article published in the journal Magnetic Resonance Materials in Physics, Biology and Medicine, Nicolas Boulant and Lionel Quettier, Iseult project leaders for the CEA's Joliot and Irfu Institutes, review the details of this commissioning.

Apr 03, 2023

Signature of the collaboration agreement between CEA-IRFU and CERN for the High Field Magnets project

The recent update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics recommended a feasibility study for the future generation of collider. In this context, the Laboratory Directors Group, of which IRFU is a member, has been mandated by the CERN Council to oversee the development of an accelerator R&D roadmap.

Signature of the collaboration agreement between CEA-IRFU and CERN for the High Field Magnets project

MACQU passes its tests successfully

Mar 10, 2023

MACQU passes its tests successfully

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.

Sep 14, 2022

Successful tests for a Nb3Sn superconducting coil entirely produced at CEA Paris-Saclay

The LEAS (Laboratoire d'Etude des Aimants Supraconducteurs) at CEA Paris-Saclay has entirely manufactured a coil based on the superconductor Nb3Sn (niobium-tin), of the SMC (Short Model Coil) type. This coil is a short model intended to be assembled in a magnet structure, then to be tested at cryogenic temperature. Nb3Sn is being considered for future accelerator magnets generating magnetic fields up to 16 T (teslas), which would double the performance of the best magnets currently in use.

Successful tests for a Nb3Sn superconducting coil entirely produced at CEA Paris-Saclay

$Tests of a high power Beryllium (Be) target and first neutron diffraction measurements on the IPHI-neutron source$

Mar 03, 2022

Tests of a high power Beryllium (Be) target and first neutron diffraction measurements on the IPHI-neutron source

The objective of the realization of efficient compact neutron sources is to make it possible to perform neutron scattering experiments, with practically the same qualities as those carried out with neutron beam lines from research reactors of the Orphée type*. These compact sources are obtained from a protons beam of medium-energy (3-50 MeV) and high current (100 mA) impinging on a light element target as beryllium. This interaction creates a neutron emission.

Nov 30, 2021

First beam in the RFQ for ESS

The CEA teams in collaboration with those of ESS worked for many months on the conditioning of the RFQ delivered to ESS in 2019. On 28 July 2021, the conditioning was successfully completed with 110% of the nominal operating power and the beam passed through the RFQ for the first time on 26 November. The conditioning of the RFQ marks the end of a multi-year process at CEA for this central component of the future ESS linear accelerator in Sweden.

First beam in the RFQ for ESS

GLAD and COCOTIER : IRFU cryogenics at GSI

Jun 04, 2021

GLAD and COCOTIER : IRFU cryogenics at GSI

Two state-of-the-art instruments, GLAD and COCOTIER, were designed and built at Irfu in the last few years and are now operational in the R3B experimental room of the GSI heavy ion accelerator (Darmstadt, Germany). Both are intended to be part of the equipment that will be used at FAIR, the new machine under construction at the GSI site. GLAD is a large acceptance spectrometer for the analysis of relativistic radioactive heavy ion beam reactions.

Mar 26, 2021

First test successful for the insertion quadrupole “MQYYM” for the HL-LHC project

The large aperture (90 mm) quadrupole superconducting electromagnet for the CERN HL-LHC project, manufactured and tested at 4.2 K by the IRFU teams, reached its nominal gradient of 120 T/m (defined for 1.9 K) the 5th of March, 2021. These very good results validate the design and manufacturing process proposed by the IRFU engineers and were the subject of a technology transfer to the industrial companies working on the European project QuaCo (QUAdrupoleCOrector).

First test successful for the insertion quadrupole “MQYYM” for the HL-LHC project

KATRIN: a still unsterilized scale!

Dec 18, 2020

KATRIN: a still unsterilized scale!

The main objective of the KATRIN experiment is the measurement of the mass of the three neutrinos of the Standard Model of Particle Physics. But the analysis of the beta decay spectrum of tritium also allows to search for the trace of a hypothetical fourth neutrino, called sterile neutrino. The collaboration has just published its first analysis in Physical Review Letters (see article) based on four weeks of data acquired in 2019.

Dec 14, 2020

SPIRAL2 linac output: new beam power record

GANIL is commissioning its new superconducting linear accelerator (LINAC - Figure 1). This high-power accelerator provides GANIL with new possibilities in terms of beams for nuclear physics research. By providing beams with an intensity of up to 5 mA (3x1016 particles per second), the new SPIRAL2 (2nd generation on-line radioactive ion production system) LINAC will enable the GANIL's various scientific and technical programs to cross new frontiers.

SPIRAL2 linac output: new beam power record

Irfu delivers the first series cryomodule to the ESS collaboration

Sep 25, 2020

Irfu delivers the first series cryomodule to the ESS collaboration

A year and a half after the delivery of the prototype cryomodule (CM00) to ESS, the first production medium beta cryomodule (CM01) has now arrived at the ESS site. It left CEA on September 22, 2020 for a two-day trip to Lund, Sweden. The Irfu teams had previously validated the RF and cryogenic performances of this cryomodule. It will be tested again on the ESS test bench before being integrated in its final position in the accelerator tunnel. This is a first step.

Sep 02, 2020

SARAF: Delivery of the medium energy line, MEBT to Soreq-Israel

On October 28, 2014, CEA signed a contract with the Israeli research center in Soreq (SNRC) for the construction of a accelerator called SARAF (SOREQ Applied Research Accelerator Facility) by IRFU teams. This agreement is materialized by preliminary and detailed study phases over a period of 18 months (2015 and 2016) opening up to a construction, testing and installation phase on the site that will last 6 years.

SARAF: Delivery of the medium energy line, MEBT to Soreq-Israel

The homogeneity of the magnetic field of the Iseult magnet on good rails...

Jul 15, 2020

The homogeneity of the magnetic field of the Iseult magnet on good rails...

In order for the images produced by the future MRI to be free of distortions or artifacts, the magnetic field generated by the Iseult magnet must be homogeneous to 0.5 PPM (parts per million) around the patient's brain. To meet this challenging specification, it was necessary to provision means of "shimming" the field, i.e. of correcting all the small defects that would inevitably arise from the manufacturing process.

May 13, 2020

Successful Conceptual Design for a Plasma Wakefield Accelerator for EuPRAXIA

The EUPRAXIA project has just completed its design study phase with the delivery of the Conceptual Design Report (CDR) at the end of 2019. The strong involvement of IRFU, particularly in the field of particle beam physics, has made it possible to show that solutions exist for the realization of a plasma wakefield accelerator, with a beam quality approaching that of conventional accelerators.

Successful Conceptual Design for a Plasma Wakefield Accelerator for EuPRAXIA

Successful commissioning of SPIRAL2 at the end of 2019

Feb 18, 2020

Successful commissioning of SPIRAL2 at the end of 2019

Following SPIRAL2's commissioning authorization issued by the French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) on July 8, 2019, many crucial steps were successfully completed by the end of 2019. A first proton beam was accelerated to 33 MeV, the nominal energy by the SPIRAL2 linear accelerator (LINAC) and a first test experiment was achieved the Neutron For Science (NFS) experimental room. These first results in 2019 are very promising.

Dec 19, 2019

Irfu plays Santa Claus in Sweden!

On December 4, 2019, mechanical reception of the RFQ provided by Irfu took place in the tunnel of the European Spallation Source (ESS) project in Lund, Sweden. Following the delivery of the RFQ on August 27, 2019, the installation immediately followed with the Irfu team present and guaranteeing its success over the following months.

Irfu plays Santa Claus in Sweden!

The FRESCA2 project ends on a high note with a magnetic field record of 14.6 Teslas at 1.9 Kelvin

Nov 19, 2019

The FRESCA2 project ends on a high note with a magnetic field record of 14.6 Teslas at 1.9 Kelvin

After winding, the seventh and last coil of FRESCA2 left Saclay in June 2019 in its reaction mould, putting an end to Irfu's activity on this project, which began in 2009 in collaboration with CERN. This type 3-4 coil is a spare coil, which, after reaction, instrumentation and impregnation at CERN, will join its type 1-2 sister on CERN shelves. In a first step, the FRESCA2 dipole, a 100 mm Nb3Sn dipole magnet tested at CERN, had reached a field of 13.

Aug 27, 2019

France delivers essential accelerator component to ESS

August 27, 2019, a key accelerator component from France was delivered to the European Spallation Source (ESS) in Lund, Sweden, as part of the French in-kind contributions to the next-generation research infrastructure. The Radio Frequency Quadrupole (RFQ) is the first accelerating structure in ESS’ linear accelerator and has been designed, developed and manufactured by the ESS French stakeholder CEA in its institute Irfu (Institute of Research into the Fundamental Laws of the Universe).

France delivers essential accelerator component to ESS

The 1rst ESS prototype cryomodule successfully passes the RF power test!

Dec 21, 2018

The 1rst ESS prototype cryomodule successfully passes the RF power test!

After more than 5 years of development, including 6 months of integration work of the 12,000 separate components to a complete cryomodule, the CEA-Irfu has just validated the technology of this complex system that reached the nominal ESS accelerating field in the 4 superconducting accelerating cavities.

Oct 10, 2018

First injection of tritium in the KATRIN experiment

What is the mass of neutrinos? To answer this fundamental question, the KATRIN experiment was designed and built by an international collaboration at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. On June 11, 2018, an international symposium marked the beginning of data acquisition. The first electron spectra from tritium decay have been analyzed with an analysis chain developed at IRFU. Everything conforms to the required specifications and the first long data taking campaign for physics can start.

First injection of tritium in the KATRIN experiment

20,8 T for the high-field magnet NOUGAT

Sep 25, 2018

20,8 T for the high-field magnet NOUGAT

The first test campaign of the NOUGAT high field magnet was successfully carried out at the CNRS LNCMI Grenoble. This laboratory wishes to build a 30-tesla magnet by assembling a resistive magnet from LNCMI and a superconducting magnet designed by IRFU based on high temperature superconducting materials. To date, the field reached 20.8 T, including 12.8 T generated by the superconducting magnet alone.

Sep 21, 2018

The first triplet of superconducting multipoles of the S3 spectrometer arrived in Ganil

The first triplet of superconducting multipoles of the S3 Super Separator Spectrometer arrived at Ganil on August 29, 2018. S3 is one of the experiment rooms of the Spiral2 facility. The magnet, with a mass of 2.8 tonnes, is 1.8 m long and almost as high. This innovative type of magnet is very compact despite the number of optical functions it can generate (quadrupole, sextupole, octupole and dipole). It is the first of a series of seven to be delivered to the Ganil.

The first triplet of superconducting multipoles of the S3 spectrometer arrived in Ganil

A high-luminosity LHC within 10 years at CERN

Jun 18, 2018

A high-luminosity LHC within 10 years at CERN

A new project is opening today, Friday, June 15, 2018, at the LHC, the large Hadron Collider. Initiated in 2011, this project aims to bring into service by 2026 a high-luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) that will increase the number of proton-proton collisions and collect more data. France contributes significantly to this project (up to € 180 million, including payroll).

Jan 31, 2018

Nuclear fusion: French superconducting coils ready for the JT-60SA tokamak

After the validation of the last superconducting toroidal field coils, the CEA's contribution to the construction of the Japanese JT-60SA Tokamak, dedicated to the study of nuclear fusion, is nearing completion. Ten of them (out of twenty) were manufactured under the responsibility of the CEA by GE Power in Belfort. These coils of nearly 16 tons each will fly to Naka in mid-February to join their sisters and integrate the structure of the Japanese Tokamak.

Nuclear fusion: French superconducting coils ready for the JT-60SA tokamak

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