At a WIT event to learn about the magnets used at CERN in the LHC so buckles up 💪
Superconducting materials are super important to CERN as they can conduct current ~1000x more than copper. The cost is they require being at ~2K (-271C). It does mean you can have far smaller conductors, important when building coils.
Dipole magnets bend/ direct the beams allowing them to go around the ring. Quadrupoles are used to focus the beam, either 'squeezing them horizontally or vertically. This is needed as protons are positively charged so don't want to be close together
At the collision points (the detectors, such as ATLAS, are located at these points) only quadrupoles are used as they're on a straight part of the ring so they only need to be focused/ squeezed to allow collision
There are 1,200 dipoles and 400 quadrupoles in the LHC. It takes 3months to replace a dipole 
The superconducting material currently used can't stand a stronger magnetic field so if we want to increase that we need new materials. Current plans for 11T magnets will free up 5m of space out of every 15m for every dipole that gets replaced. #ResearchandDevelopment
Not all dipoles will be replaced but where they are, the free space will be used to include collimators. These will help prevent high energy being directed into the magnets. Critical as we move towards HL-LHC
36 small cables per band. 1/3 superconducting, 2/3 copper. Copper is to help protect (ie during quenching). Additionally each superconducting filament is surrounded by copper.
On the left the number of copper needed to obtain the same current as the smaller combo (with superconducting material) cable on the right.
Finally a little look inside to get an idea of how they keep it down to 1.9K
(Also if anything is wrong please do correct, tweeting mid tour can only go so well)
(Also if anything is wrong please do correct, tweeting mid tour can only go so well)
