FAIR GmbH and the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) Russia sign agreement for the construction of magnets for particle accelerator

At the end of February 2015 FAIR GmbH and the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) in Dubna, Russia, concluded an agreement on the construction of 300 magnets with various constructions, each weighing several tons. The magnets are to be used in the large-scale ring accelerator SIS 100 at FAIR. They are part of the high-tech contributions in kind from Russia for FAIR.

Darmstadt, Germany, 30-4-2015 — /EuropaWire/ — “JINR can now commence with the construction of the innovative superconducting magnets. These are based on a new and unique technology, so as to control different types of particles particularly efficiently and flexibly on their track”, reports a visibly pleased Boris Sharkov, the Scientific Director of FAIR GmbH. After their completion the magnets will undergo extensive testing in Dubna prior to their deployment at FAIR.

The superconducting magnets were designed by GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung and are based on joint development work with JINR over a period of many years. They are the central components in the ring accelerator SIS 100 and keep the particles, which travel close to the speed of light, in their orbit. The SIS 100 has a circumference of 1,100 meters and will comprise a total of more than 800 main components.

In the development of the superconducting magnets it has been possible to unite two technologies for the first time. The magnets are fitted with superconducting cables, which allow for a very fast change in the magnetic field. At the same time the vacuum chambers into which the particle beams are fed are cooled to almost minus 273 degrees Celsius. For only so can the maximum magnetic field be created within half a second and at the same time the necessary vacuum, of one billionth of the ambient pressure, be attained. Under these conditions it is possible to accelerate very heavy atomic nuclei virtually to the speed of light.

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3D study of a quadrupole magnet, similar to those being constructed at JINR. (Source: GSI)