REBCO -- a silver bullet for our next high-field magnet and collider budget?

TL;DR

This paper discusses the potential of REBCO high-temperature superconductors as a cost-effective solution for next-generation high-field magnets in future particle colliders, outlining challenges and a roadmap for development.

Contribution

It provides an analysis of REBCO superconductors' potential to address technical and cost challenges in high-field magnet development for future colliders.

Findings

REBCO can enable 16 T+ superconducting magnets.

Cost reduction strategies are essential for practical implementation.

A proposed roadmap for research and development is outlined.

Abstract

High-field superconducting magnets with a dipole field of 16 T and above enable future energy-frontier circular particle colliders. Although we believe these magnets can be built, none exists today. They can also be a showstopper for future high-energy machines due to a prohibitively high price tag based on the current conductor and magnet fabrication cost. The high-temperature superconducting REBCO coated conductor can address both the technical and cost issues, a silver bullet to lay both monsters to rest. The challenges and unknowns, however, can be too arduous to make the silver bullet. We lay out a potential road forward and suggest key action items. As a contribution from the accelerator community, we attempt to clarify for our theorist and experimenter colleagues a few aspects about the future high-field superconducting magnets. We hope to stimulate an effective plan for the 2023 P5 process that can lead to a cost-effective high-field magnet technology for future colliders and the exciting physics they can steward.