• G. Tranquille
  CERN, Geneva

Electron cooling is central in the preparation of dense bunches of lead beams for the LHC. Ion beam pulses from the Linac3 are transformed into short high-brightness bunches using multi-turn injection, cooling and accumulation in the Low Energy Ion Ring, LEIR. The LEIR cooler was the first of a new generation of coolers utilising high-perveance variable-density electron beams for the cooling and accumulation of heavy ion beams. It was commissioned in 2006 at the same time as the LEIR ring and has since been used to provide lead ions for the commissioning of the LHC injector chain. We report briefly on the status of the LHC ion injector chain and present results of measurements made to check and to better understand the influence of the electron beam size, intensity and density profile on the cooling performance. Future plans to improve the performance of the device will also be presented.