During the last few years, several events occurred that had a major impact on the future of high-energy physics (HEP), which is the principal sponsor and customer of our work. Among these events were the demise of the SSC; the report by the High Energy Physics Advisory Panel's subpanel on the future vision for that discipline (the "Drell subpanel"), which recommended a large increment in high-energy physics funding; the American Physical Society Division of Particles and Fields study on the field's future; and the approval of the Large Hadron Collider proposal at CERN, Europe's high-energy physics center.

While these events have of course brought major changes to high-energy physics, they have also re-emphasized the relevance and importance of our main mission: development of new magnet technology for high-energy accelerators. High-field superconducting magnets will remain key to future hadron colliders. Further, there will be a need for a strong program to develop the technology further, specifically aimed at dipole magnets capable of 10 T and above, as well as high-gradient quadrupoles. These future directions are well aligned with the traditional strengths of our program, including the design of superconducting accelerator magnets and the development of the materials from which they are made, as well as techniques for manufacturing magnets and cables.

At the same time, the basic expertise developed in this program is being used for near-term projects in high-energy physics or related technology areas.

U.S. LHC Program

One prime example is the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The cancellation of the SSC had left the world of high-energy physics without any approved plans for a next-generation proton collider. Fortunately, in December 1994 the CERN Council formally approved construction of the Large Hadron Collider, a 7-on-7-TeV proton collider that will replace the Large Electron Positron collider (LEP) in the existing tunnel. In the first extensive partnership between the U.S. and its onetime archrival CERN, we are participating with Brookhaven National Laboratory and Fermilab in a U.S. collaboration to assist with the LHC.

Our tasks for this program include dipole cable fabrication support; dipole cable measurement support; cable and wedges for the high gradient quadrupoles (HGQs); HGQ quench heater design and fabrication; HGQ magnetic field design and optimization; and cryogenic feed box design and fabrication. This effort is an important adjunct to our base program, for the following reasons. In the area of cable design and fabrication, we provide unique capabilities and expertise to an important international program. In turn, the support in this area helps us maintain our experimental cabling machine as a state of the art facility Cryogenic design is an essential area of expertise for our base program, yet it is difficult to justify in a small program. The LHC cryogenic feedbox task helps us provide the base support for this area as well. Finally, the experience of working as part of an international team building the premier high energy physics collider of the near future provides our staff with essential experience in the practical problems of such an effort. This experience will be very important for those who aspire to contribute to the VLHC.

VLHC

The Very Large Hadron Collider (VLHC) is planned as the next step beyond LHC. At the 1996 Snowmass Workshop, parameter tables were worked out for hadron colliders with 100 TeV center-of-mass energy and 1034 cm-2s-1 luminosity, using superconducting magnets in low (2T), high (9.5T), or very high (12.5 T) field regimes. Cost is the primary concern for this gigantic machine and the LBNL group has approached this challenge by looking for the most cost effective design, regardless of field strength.