• C. Yin Vallgren, G. Arduini, J. Bauche, S. Calatroni, P. Chiggiato, K. Cornelis, P. Costa Pinto, E. Métral, G. Rumolo, E.N. Shaposhnikova, M. Taborelli, G. Vandoni
  CERN, Geneva

Amorphous carbon coatings with low secondary electron yield have been applied to the liners in the electron cloud monitors and to vacuum chambers of three dipole magnets in the SPS. The electron cloud is completely suppressed for LHC type beams in these monitors even after 3 months air venting and no performance deterioration is observed after more than one year of SPS operation. Upon variation of the magnetic field in the monitors the electron cloud current maintains its intensity down to weak fields of some 40 Gauss, where fast conditioning is observed. This is in agreement with dark traces observed on the RF shields between dipoles. The dynamic pressure rise has been used to monitor the behavior of the magnets. It is found to be about the same for coated and uncoated magnets, apart from a weak improvement in the carbon coated ones under conditions of intense electron cloud. Inspection of the coated magnet is foreseen in order to detect potential differences with respect to the coated monitors. Measurements of the stray fields outside the dipoles show that they are sufficiently strong to induce electron cloud in these regions.