KIT Superconducting Undulator Development -- Story of a successful industrial collaboration & future prospects

TL;DR

This paper details the development and industrial collaboration behind superconducting undulators, highlighting their successful production, operational deployment, and future prospects in synchrotron and free-electron laser facilities.

Contribution

It presents the first full-scale commercial superconducting undulators based on conduction cooling, developed through a 15-year industrial partnership.

Findings

Successful production of world-leading SCUs

Operational SCUs at Karlsruhe Research Accelerator

Development of specialized measurement facilities

Abstract

Undulators are X-ray sources widely used in synchrotron storage rings and free-electron laser facilities. With the commercial availability of low-temperature superconductors, a new type of undulator was born, the superconducting undulator (SCU). In this context, the industrial cooperation between the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and Bilfinger Nuclear and Energy Transition GmbH started more than 15 years ago. Since then, many projects have been successfully completed, leading to the production of the world's leading full-scale commercial SCUs based on conduction cooling. Starting with the SCU15, the first of its kind installed SCU providing light to a beamline, followed by the SCU20 installed and still in operation at the Karlsruhe Research Accelerator. The successful realisation of such SCUs has required the simultaneous development of appropriate measurement facilities such as CASPER I and CASPER II.