HIGH VOLTAGE PERFORMANCE OF THE BEAM SCREEN OF THE LHC INJECTION KICKER MAGNETS

The LHC injection kicker magnets include beam screens to shield the ferrite yokes against wakefields resulting from the high intensity beam. The screening is provided by conductors lodged in the inner wall of a ceramic support tube. The design of the beam screen has been upgraded to overcome limitations and permit LHC operation with increasingly higher bunch intensity and short bunch lengths: the new design also significantly reduces the electric field associated with the screen conductors, decreasing the probability of electrical breakdown. The high voltage conditioning process for the upgraded kicker magnets is presented and discussed. In addition a test setup has been utilized to study flashover, on the inner wall of the ceramic tube, as a function of both applied voltage and vacuum pressure: results from the test setup are presented.