Report of the study group on a superconducting proton linac as a PS Injector

A proposal was made at the end of 1996 to use the large inventory of RF hardware available after the decommissioning of LEP-2 for the construction of a 2 GeV Superconducting Proton Linac (SPL) to inject directly into the PS [1.1]. The brightness of the beam in the PS at low energy would double, helping the injector complex to satisfy the requirements of the LHC and benefiting the planned proton physics programme. Additional users could also be accommodated thanks to the capability of the SPL to operate at a much larger duty factor than that required for high-energy physics. Consequently, a small study group has been set up to analyse the major technical aspects of the SPL design as well as the processes of injection and capture in the PS. This report summarises the work done so far, and provides some information about the other possible uses of the SPL beam. The feasibility of such a cascade of accelerators is confirmed, although an in-depth design study is still required before the realistic performance and detailed design of that facility can be announced.