First full cool down of the SPIRAL 2 superconducting LINAC

TL;DR

This paper details the first full cool down of the SPIRAL 2 superconducting LINAC, highlighting the challenges faced and lessons learned to improve cryogenic operation and beam availability.

Contribution

It documents the initial cool down process of SPIRAL 2's superconducting cavities and discusses the operational challenges encountered.

Findings

Successful cool down achieved after 10 years of development

Identification of cryogenic challenges affecting beam availability

Insights into operational constraints for superconducting LINACs

Abstract

SPIRAL 2 is a high intensity heavy ions beams accelerator project that has been going on for more than 10 years now. Countless efforts in different disciplines made it what it is today. One of the most important steps after the set up of the different equipments has been the very first full cool down of the superconducting cavities in an accelerator operation type configuration. While this has been a major achievement for the SPIRAL 2 teams, it also hi-lighted new challenges and constraints that would have to be addressed in order to have a high availability rate of the beam from the cryogenics side. This paper retraces this particular episode.