Magnet R&D for the US LHC Accelerator Research Program (LARP)

In 2004, the US DOE established the LHC Accelerator Research Program (LARP) with the goal of developing a technology base for future upgrades of the LHC. The focus of the magnet program, which is a collaboration of three US laboratories, BNL, FNAL and LBNL, is on development of high gradient quadrupoles using <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$ Nb_3 Sn$</tex> superconductor. Other program components address issues regarding magnet design, radiation-hard materials, long magnet scale-up, quench protection, fabrication techniques and conductor and cable R&D. This paper presents an overall view of the program with emphasis on the current quadrupole project and outlines the long-term goals of the program.