The Higher-Order Mode Dampers of the 400 MHz Superconducting LHC Cavities

The accelerating system of the LHC consists of two structures per beam, each composed of four superconducting single-cell cavities. Their higher-order modes have to be damped sufficiently in order to prevent coupled-bunch instabilities and to limit parasitic mode losses. The first two higher-order modes do not propagate into the beam tubes between the cells. However, strong damping can be obtained with a special dipole mode coupler resonant at both modes. Because of the restricted space, a compact design is used. The other higher-order modes propagate and form coupled modes with unequal field distributions. They are damped by broadband couplers positioned on either side of each cavity cell. We present the design of the higher-order mode couplers together with measurements on a real cavity