Alignment and field scans of the new solenoid

Several years ago the authors manufactured an aluminum solenoid consisting of 20 tape-wound pancakes when it was realized that their wire-wound copper solenoid did not produce a magnetic field of sufficient uniformity to permit an experimental sensitivity to the parameter c/sub 2p/ of order unity, their original design goal. In principle it is possible more easily to produce a precision solenoid with tape-wound pancakes, since jigs can be used to precisely locate the tape on cylindrical forms during the winding process, whereas the wire-wound solenoid is subject to various winding errors as each new layer is wound on the one below. However, in the course of routinely checking the new aluminum pancakes for major faults last year, preparatory to installation, the authors observed that a number of construction defects were present which would make the new solenoid not significantly better than the old. So they undertook a careful measurement program which determined the mechanical, electric and magnetic properties of each pancake