Aspects of operation of the Fermilab Booster RF System at very high intensity

Abstract

The purpose of this note is to examine the likelihood and problems associated with operation of the Fermilab Booster rf systems as it presently exists, or with only minor modifications, at beam intensity approaching 5x10{sup 13} protons per pulse. Beam loading of the rf system at such an intensity will be one order of magnitude larger than at the present operation level. It is assumed that the injection energy will be raised to 1 GeV with no major increase in the injected energy spread (longitudinal emittance). The beam will be bunched by adiabatic capture as is presently done although it may be necessary to remove one or two bunches prior to acceleration to allow clean extraction at 8 GeV. At very high intensity the charge in each bunch will interact with the vacuum chamber impedance (and with itself) in such a way as to reduce in some cases the bucket area generated by the rf voltage. Because this decrement must be made up by changes in the rf ring voltage if the required bucket area is to be maintained, these effects must be taken into consideration in any analysis of the capability of the rf system to accelerate very large intensity.