Operational Experience With the Combined Solenoid/Dipole Magnet System of the COMPASS Experiment at CERN

Polarized Drell-Yan measurements require a strong homogeneous magnetic field. A 2.5 T longitudinal field is generated with a superconducting solenoid carrying a nominal current of 650 A, while high homogeneity is obtained by using additional shim-and compensation coils. Since the target needs to be transversely polarized, a second main coil is required. A superconducting dipole coil encloses the solenoid and together they are integrated in a common cryostat. Field rotation, from longitudinal to transverse and vice versa, is possible by simultaneously powering both coils. During the complete procedure, the absolute field strength is never allowed to drop below 0.48 T to guarantee a high polarization percentage. In the meantime, the forces between the coils need to be controlled, and therefore the coils cannot both be carrying the nominal operational current, since this will destroy the system. The magnetic field rotation procedure is therefore uniquely developed for this system. In this paper, the magnet system is described and a summary of the operational experience gained during data taking is provided.