ELENA, a new high-intensity storage ring
for antiproton research at CERN

ELENA (Extra-Low ENergy Antiproton ring) is a new 10-m-diameter storage synchrotron, which will be installed as an upgrade to the existing Antiproton Decelerator (AD) facility of CERN. Presently the AD produces antiprotons in high-energy collisions of several GeV, and decelerate them to a kinetic energy of 5.3 MeV. The ELENA ring will further reduce this minimum energy to 100 keV, while simultaneously improving the emittance of the beam a hundredfold by cooling the antiprotons using electron cooling techniques. This beam will then be ejected from ELENA and transported using electrostatic beamlines to several experiments. ELENA was approved for construction in 2011, with first experiments planned for 2016 (ELENA project website).

The ASACUSA collaboration is now constructing some beam profile monitors and electrostatic beamline elements for prototype tests as part of its contribution to the ELENA project.