Superconducting switch concept applied to superconducting undulator phase-error correction

Abstract

Superconducting undulator (SCU) technology has the potential to significantly enhance the performance of synchrotron radiation sources for storage ring and FEL applications. Since 2002, our team at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has been performing R&D on superconducting undulators, including the fabrication of three Nb3Sn prototypes. We have demonstrated experimentally the possibility to provide the prototype with trim coils that could be used for phase error correction. The research effort that we report here demonstrates the possibility to add degrees of freedom to the field correction provided by these coils in a cryogenic environment. By means of bridge of superconducting switches, we can modify the current direction through a trim coil. Here we describe the design of the experimental bridge we fabricated, the results we obtained and finally the generalized concept one could plan to apply to correct the phase errors with trim coils connected to a network of superconducting bridges. © 2010 American Institute of Physics.