Checking the Polarity of Superconducting Multipole LHC Magnets

This paper describes the design and operation of the "Polarity Checker", a scanning probe designed to check multipole field order, type and polarity of superconducting LHC magnets. First we introduce the measurement method, based on the harmonic analysis of the radial field component picked up by a rotating Hall sensor at different current levels. Then we describe the hardware and the software of the system, which features automatic powering, data acquisition and treatment, discussing the achieved sensitivity and performance. Finally we provide a summary of the test results on the first 505 cryoassemblies, showing how the system was usefully employed to detect some potentially harmful connection errors