Amorphous carbon coatings for the mitigation of electron cloud in the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron

Electron cloud buildup is a major limitation for high-energy particle accelerators such as the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS). Amorphous carbon thin films with low initial secondary electron yield (SEY ~ 1.0) have been applied as a mitigation material in the SPS vacuum chambers. This paper summarizes the experimental setups for electron cloud monitoring, coating procedures, and recent measurements performed with amorphous carbon coated vacuum chambers in the SPS. The electron cloud measured by dedicated monitors is completely suppressed for LHC-type beams. Even after more than one year’s exposure in the SPS with the machine in operation, the coating does not show any increase in the secondary electron yield. The study of coated vacuum chambers for the SPS dipole magnets is in progress; the correlation between electron cloud reduction and pressure rises is not yet fully understood. Some prototypes have already been installed in the accelerator and plans for the implementation of an optimized coating technique are under development.