The LHC Superconducting RF System

The European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN), the largest high energy physics laboratory worldwide, is constructing the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in the existing 27 km circumference LEP (Large Electron Positron) collider tunnel. For the LHC, superconducting cavities, operating at 4.5 K, will provide the required acceleration field for ramping the beam energy up to 7 TeV and for keeping the colliding proton beams tightly bunched. Superconducting cavities were chosen, not only because of their high acceleration field leading to a small contribution to the machine impedance, but also because of their high stored energy which minimises the effects of periodic transient beam loading associated with the high beam intensity (0.5 A). There will be eight single-cell cavities per beam, each delivering 2 MV (5.3 MV/m) at 400 MHz. The cavities themselves are now being manufactured by industrial firms, using niobium on copper technology which gives full satisfaction at LEP. A complete cavity prototype assembly including cryostat, tuner and couplers is now being tested at CERN. In addition to a description of the LHC RF superconducting system, results on the prototype cavity assembly will be reported.