Plans for building the largest thin solenoid ever

The superconducting solenoid magnet for the GEM detector poses unusual fabrication and handling challenges because of its extraordinary size. It will be more than 30% larger in diameter than the largest existing particle detector coils. Each of the two coil elements that compose the air-core solenoid, will be about 19 meters in diameter and 15 meters long. Major components weighing as much as 1500 Mg must be transported and manipulated at the Interaction Region 5 (IR5) fabrication site of the SSC Laboratory as the magnets are fabricated. Because of their large size, the magnets will be fabricated, assembled and tested at special purpose facilities at the IR5 site. The site-use plan must accommodate the fabrication of other detector components and the assembly of large flux shaping iron structures in a timely manner to allow subsequent testing and defector assembly. Each cold mass will be composed of twelve 45-Mg coil windings that are joined prior to assembly into the 19-m diam annular cryostat. >