Field Quality and Magnetic Center Stability Achieved in a Variable Permanent Magnet Quadrupole for the Ilc

A superstrong permanent magnet quadrupole (PMQ) is one of the candidates for the final focus lens for the International Linear Collider (ILC). Our prototype PMQ can produce variable strengths from 3.5T to 24.2T in 1.4T steps. The magnetic center of the PMQ must not move more than a few microns during a 20% strength change to enable a Beam-Based Alignment (BBA) process to work. Our PMQ can be mechanically adjusted to suppress the center movement from more than 30μm to less than 10μm during strength changes.