Design, testing, and validating the CLIC module pre-alignment and alignment systems

Abstract

The Compact Linear Collider requires micron-level alignment of the key accelerator components within the two 21 km main LINACs to achieve the desired luminosity. Several Super Accelerating Structures (SAS) will be pre-aligned on a single common support structure to within 14μm. This common support structure will then be actively aligned relative to a Machine Reference Network, and in operation beam-based alignment will be used to achieve the final 1 μm alignment required. A design for the SAS pre-alignment system has been created, prototyped, and tested, and shown to match the design performance within 2.3 μm/turn, and to meet the specification requirements. A design for the active girder alignment system has also been created, prototyped, and initial testing has begun. This testing indicates that the system works as designed. Finally, the testing required to confirm this, and to fully validate the CLIC alignment procedure, is discussed.