Superconducting Coated Conductors for Proton Beam Screens in High-Energy Particle Accelerators
Artur Romanov, from the SUMAN Group
Date: Thursday, 19 May 2022
Time: 11:00 am
Venue: ICMAB - Sala d'Actes Carles Miravitlles and online. Register here to attend by Zoom.
Abstract:
In order to drive high-energy research beyond the lifetime of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) kicked off an R&D initiative for a 100 TeV proton-proton collider with 100 km circumference, the so-called Future Circular Collider (FCC). Part of the FCC study is to rethink the design of the beam screen, an accelerator component that houses the particle beam and thermally shields the cold bores of the steering magnets from the synchrotron radiation.
Within a project consortium consisting of ICMAB, ALBA Synchrotron, UPC, IFAE and CERN, we evaluate the suitability and optimization of REBa2Cu3O7 (RE = rare-earth) coated conductors (CCs), a structure consisting of a superconducting material layer on top of a flexible, metallic substrate, as a possible beam screen coating alternative to copper.
Generated results not only demonstrate that commercially available CCs fulfill the promise of exceptionally good high-frequency properties at measurement conditions, but also propose practical solutions to issues which previously hindered the usage of REBCO in the beam screen chamber or other high-field microwave applications.
Supervisors:
- Teresa Puig, Superconducting Materials and Large Scale Nanostructures (SUMAN)
- Joffre Gutierrez, Superconducting Materials and Large Scale Nanostructures (SUMAN)
PhD Committee:
- President: Xavier Obradors, ICMAB-CSIC, Spain
- Secretary: Enrico Silva, Università Roma TRE, Italy
- Vocal: Walter Wuensch, CERN, International
University: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
PhD Programme: Physics

Scheme of a REBCO coated conductor. Within this thesis, this structure is investigated to be used as a beam screen coating for the Future Circular Collider.
"In order to drive high-energy research beyond the lifetime of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) kicked off an R&D initiative for a 100 TeV proton-proton collider with 100 km circumference, the so-called Future Circular Collider (FCC). Part of the FCC study is to rethink the design of the beam screen, an accelerator component that houses the particle beam and thermally shields the cold bores of the steering magnets from the synchrotron radiation.
Within a project consortium consisting of ICMAB, ALBA Synchrotron, UPC, IFAE and CERN, we evaluate the suitability and optimization of REBa2Cu3O7 (RE = rare-earth) coated conductors (CCs), a structure consisting of a superconducting material layer on top of a flexible, metallic substrate, as a possible beam screen coating alternative to copper.
Generated results not only demonstrate that commercially available CCs fulfill the promise of exceptionally good high-frequency properties at measurement conditions, but also propose practical solutions to issues which previously hindered the usage of REBCO in the beam screen chamber or other high-field microwave applications."