The International Research Fellowship Program enables U.S. scientists and engineers to conduct three to twenty-four months of research abroad. The program's awards provide opportunities for joint research, and the use of unique or complementary facilities, expertise and experimental conditions abroad.
This award will support a twenty-two-month research fellowship by Dr. Nathan R. Brooks to work with Dr. Luca Bottura at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland.
Obstacles in design, realization, and performance of a magnetic measurement system are of great interest in areas of magnetic applications and applied superconductivity. Specifically, the need to measure magnetic fields faster and more accurately is a necessity. Rotating coil systems are one of the most accurate methods of field measurement in certain applications. But, due to the added complexity of mechanical rotation, the method is not the speediest. He proposes to improve upon previous rotating coil measurements systems. The fundamental objective will be to increase the speed at which these measurements can be made, without degrading the accuracy. This is important for measuring fields that change rapidly. As an approach to achieving this objective, the investigation will entail both the measurement instrumentation and the necessary electromechanical system. One of the most prominent areas of research in magnetic fields is their use in particle accelerators for physics research. CERN has started a vigorous research and development program for its next and greatest accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The LHC superconducting magnets require extensive testing at CERN to verify their performance before commissioning. One of the main tests is the magnetic field quality test, for which a rotating coil measurement system is utilized. Also, due to the stringent magnet performance required for the LHC, these magnets have to be operated with high accuracy. Therefore, Dr. Luca Bottura has started a conceptual design of a Reference Magnet System (RMS) to aid in optimally controlling the LHC. This system requires a new and improved rotating coil system. This project will be a major enhancement of the facilities at CERN and the new rotating coil system will be the next evolutionary step in accelerator magnet measurement. By means of the CERN accelerator school, which provides papers and tutorials on accelerator topics, other institutions will leverage our work to advance their systems. These improvements in accelerator magnet performance are necessary for the particle physic experiments at these facilities, so that science can be exploited for the betterment of society.
