AA quadrupole magnet

Focusing magnet used for the AA (antiproton accumulator).Making an antiproton beam took a lot of time and effort. Firstly, protons were accelerated to an energy of 26 GeV in the PS and ejected onto a metal target. From the spray of emerging particles, a magnetic horn picked out 3.6 GeV antiprotons for injection into the AA through a wide-aperture focusing quadrupole magnet. For a million protons hitting the target, just one antiproton was captured, 'cooled' and accumulated. It took 3 days to make a beam of 3 x 10^11 - three hundred thousand million - antiprotons. About focusing magnets (quadrupoles): Quadrupole magnets are needed to focus the particle beams and squeeze them so that more particles collide when the beams cross. Particle beams are stored for about 10 hours in the LHC. During this time, the particles make four hundred million revolutions around the machine, travelling a distance equivalent to the diameter of the solar system.