Electron cooling in the CERN accelerator complex

• Davide Gamba (CERN)

Room: 30/7-018 - Kjell Johnsen Auditorium Electron cooling is a key technique in CERN’s accelerator complex, reducing beam emittance and momentum spread by transferring energy from high-temperature ion beams to co-moving low-temperature electron beams. It is essential for producing LHC ion beams in LEIR, preserving antiprotons during deceleration in AD, and enabling high-efficiency antiproton trapping in ELENA for experiments. This presentation outlines the principles of electron cooling, hardware design, diagnostics, and operational challenges, such as beam alignment and magnetic field stability. It also introduces the different coolers used at CERN, their unique characteristics, and the challenges they present.

Magnet system of the new AD electron cooler

• Luke Von Freeden (CERN)

Room: 30/7-018 - Kjell Johnsen Auditorium A new electron cooler for the antiproton decelerator (AD) ring at CERN is under construction and will be installed in the next long shutdown (2026-2028) to replace the existing 40-year-old device. We will present the design of the new electron cooler magnet system — a normal conducting magnet comprising three straight solenoid sections joined by two toroidal field sections. Compared to the existing electron cooler magnet system, the new magnet system gives a factor five improvement of drift region field quality. The field correction scheme used to achieve this improvement will be discussed in detail. The upgrade has the potential to reduce the length of the electron cooling plateaus in the AD cycle and thereby increase the number of antiprotons available to CERN's rich antimatter physics program.

Discussion Room: 30/7-018 - Kjell Johnsen Auditorium