Field Quality Measurement of a 4.2-m-Long Prototype Low-$\beta$ Nb$_3$Sn Quadrupole Magnet During the Assembly Stage for the High-Luminosity LHC Accelerator Upgrade Project

The U.S. High-Luminosity LHC Accelerator Upgrade Project, in collaboration with CERN, is developing Nb
₃
Sn quadrupole magnets (MQXFA) to be installed at the interaction region of the LHC. The project will deliver 20 MQXFA magnets in 10 cold masses. These magnets need to meet the stringent requirements on field quality at the nominal operating current. Compared to the mature NbTi accelerator magnet technology, achieving excellent field quality can be challenging for Nb
₃
Sn magnets. To help track, understand, and allow effective correction of geometric field errors, field quality measurements at room temperature during the MQXFA assembly stage was planned for the project. The measurements also intend to evaluate the magnetic axis and twist angle along the magnet aperture. We report the first measurement on a prototype MQXFA magnet using a recently developed measurement system. The magnetic axis and twist angle met the acceptance criteria. Further development needs for the room-temperature measurements were discussed. We expect that statistics obtained from such measurements throughout the project will provide insight into future applications of high-performance Nb
₃
Sn accelerator magnets.