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*STTR Project:  Hydrogen Cryostat for Muon Beam Cooling—MUONS, Inc., 552 N. Batavia Avenue, Batavia, IL  60510-1274; 757-870-6943, www.muonsinc.com

Dr. Roland P. Johnson, Principal Investigator, rol@muonsinc.com

Dr. Roland P. Johnson, Business Official, rol@muonsinc.com

DOE Grant No. DE-FG02-04ER86191

Amount:  $700,000

Research Institution

Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory

Batavia, IL

Ionization cooling, a method for shrinking the size of a muon beam, is needed for future muon colliders and neutrino factories.  Hydrogen is needed in these applications, and a safe and efficient containment cryostat is a prerequisite for its use.  This project will develop a single hydrogen system that provides ionization energy loss for muon beam cooling, breakdown suppression for pressurized high-gradient RF cavities, and refrigeration for superconducting magnets and cold RF cavities.  In Phase I, a computer analysis program was developed, and experiments were begun, to study components that would impact the design of a  HCC Helical Cooling Channel (HCC) cryostat.  The components that were studied include magnet conductors (with new HTS data), RF cavities (with new techniques for resistivity and breakdown measurements), absorber containment windows, and the energy absorber.  In Phase II, experiments will be conducted to investigate the temperature dependent qualities of the construction materials and designs of the superconducting cable and coils, the RF cavities, and other cooling channel components.  Then, a cryostat will be designed for a six-dimensional muon beam cooling demonstration experiment, based on  the HCC.

Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee:  Muon beam cooling is the key to achieving the very intense muon beams needed for the next generation of experiments that use muons for basic research..  The use of a single hydrogen system to refrigerate superconducting magnets, pressurized high-gradient RF cavities, and the energy absorber would help make neutrino factories affordable and muon colliders a compelling option for the energy frontier.