Bunch-length and beam-timing monitors in the SLC final focus

Abstract

During the 1997/98 luminosity run of the Stanford Linear Collider (SLC) two novel RF-based detectors were brought into operation, in order to monitor the interaction-point (IP) bunch lengths and fluctuations in the relative arrival time of the two colliding beams. Both bunch length and timing can strongly affect the SLC luminosity and had not been monitored in previous years. The two new detectors utilize a broad-band microwave signal, which is excited by the beam through a ceramic gap in the final-focus beam pipe and transported outside of the beamline vault by a 160-ft long X-Band waveguide. We describe the estimated luminosity reduction due to bunch-length drift and IP timing fluctuation, the monitor layout, the expected responses and signal levels, calibration measurements, and beam observations.