Secondary Electron Yield on Cryogenic Surfaces as a Function of Physisorbed Gases

Electron cloud is a serious limitation for the operation of particle accelerators with intense positively charged beams. It occurs if the secondary electron yield (SEY) of the beam-pipe surface is sufficiently high to induce an electron multiplication. At low surface temperatures, the SEY is strongly influenced by the nature of the physisorbed gases and by the corresponding surface coverage. These conditions occur in many accelerators operating with superconducting magnets and cold vacuum sections such as the LHC and RHIC. In this work, we investigated the variation of the SEY of copper, aluminium and electro-polished copper as a function of physisorbed N2, CO, CO2, CH4, Kr, C2H6 at cryogenic temperatures. The conditioning by electron bombardment of the surface after the physisorption of H2O on electro polished copper will also be presented. The results of the various gases are compared in order to find a rationale for the behaviour of the secondary electrons for the various adsorbates.