Design, manufacturing and performance of a pair of superconducting solenoids for a neutron spin-echo spectrometer at the SNS

A Neutron spin-echo (NSE) spectrometer of the next generation is under construction at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) in Oak Ridge, USA. A NSE spectrometer measures small velocity changes of the neutrons encoded by the neutrons spin clock at a sample while the Neutron spin precesses in large magnetic fields following Bloch's equation. This instrument will be the best of its class both with respect to resolution and dynamic range. In order to reach this ambitious goal, a large magnetic precision field integral before and after the sample is required which directly scales linearly with the resolution of the instrument. Therefore superconducting technology will be used to allow for a higher magnetic field integral. Here, we present the design, manufacturing and test performance of the solenoids which are the result of a collaboration between Jiilich Research Center (FZJ) and Babcock Noell GmbH (BNG). The solenoids generate an integrated magnetic flux density of 1.8 T*m and use active shielding to reduce the fringe field. The operation temperature of about 4 K is reached by means of pulse-tube coolers in order to minimize vibrations. A special feature of this magnet system is the very accurate measurement of the cold mass-position after cool-down and during operation. The accuracy of this measurement system is in the order of micrometers. This information is required for the adjustment of so called Fresnel coils outside the cryostat. Using these correction elements, a field integral homogeneity better than 10^-6 T m for different Neutron paths through one of the solenoids can be achieved.