The production of dense lead-ion beams for the CERN LHC

To reach the design luminosity for lead-ions in the LHC, the present Low-Energy Antiproton Ring (LEAR) has to be converted into a Low-Energy Ion Ring (LEIR). Since the present ECR lead-ion source does not provide sufficient intensity, the main goal of LEIR is to act as a low-energy (4.2 MeV/u) accumulator where the ion beam is stacked and cooled (with the help of an electron-cooler) to reach the required intensity and emittances. An experimental program has been carried out at LEAR in recent years in order to test the cooling and stacking process with the present electron-cooler. A variety of results have been reported at previous conferences. This paper will focus on the electron-cooling aspects resulting from the afore mentioned experiments. Taking into account the experience gained, some guidelines will be given concerning the future LEIR machine and the electron-cooling device(s) that will be needed to produce cold dense electron beams.