LHC Injectors Upgrade Research Articles

Recent advances in the CERN PS impedance model and instability simulations following the LHC Injectors Upgrade project

Transverse instability growth rates in the CERN Proton Synchrotron (PS) are studied thanks to the recently updated impedance model of the machine. Using this model, macroparticle tracking simulations were performed with a new method well-suited for the slicing of short wakes, which achieves comparable performance to the originally implemented method while reducing the required number of slices by a factor of 5 to 10. Furthermore, dedicated beam-based measurement campaigns were carried out to benchmark the impedance model. Until now, beam dynamics simulations based on this model underestimated instability growth rates at injection energy. Thanks to a recent addition to the impedance model, namely the kicker magnets' connecting cables and their external circuits, the simulated instability growth rates are now comparable to the measured ones even when neglecting the impact of the space charge force. Finally, the space charge force is included in simulations and its impact on the instability growth rate and intra-bunch motion is studied.

Tailoring transverse beam characteristics with the new CERN PS Booster charge-exchange injection system

A key aspect of the LHC Injectors Upgrade project is the connection of the PSB to the newly built Linac4 and the related installation of a new 160 MeV charge-exchange injection system. The new injection system was commissioned in winter 2020/21 and is now used operationally to tailor the transverse characteristics for the various beam types at CERN, such as high-intensity fixed target beams, LHC single bunch beams, and high-brightness beams for LHC. This contribution outlines the different injection strategies for producing the various beam types and discusses the application of numerical optimization algorithms to adjust injection settings in operation efficiently.

Commissioning of the LHC Injectors Upgrade fast wire scanners and first experimental results

The LHC Injectors Upgrade (LIU) program included new fast beam wire scanners (BWS) to meet the requirements of the higher brightness and intensity High Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) beams. Seventeen LIU BWS have been installed during the LHC second long shutdown (LS2) and they are currently used in the daily operations of the LHC injectors. After giving an overview of the LIU project and the general beam instrumentation upgrades associated with it, this paper presents a short review of the mechanical design and layout of the LIU BWS, the electronics involved, and then focuses on the first results obtained during their commissioning.

A new beam synchronous processing architecture with a fixed frequency processing clock. Application to transient beam loading compensation in the CERN SPS machine

New projects being implemented or planned at CERN, such as the LHC Injectors Upgrade (LIU), the High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) or the Future Circular Collider (FCC), motivate the change of several architectural paradigms in the Low Level RF systems (LLRF). In the upgraded Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) LLRF, the distribution of RF, the revolution frequency, settings and synchronization timings will rely on a deterministic link, the White Rabbit (WR), exploiting a distributed topology. The digital electronics (FPGA) will now use a fixed frequency clock extracted locally in each node from this data stream. The paper presents a new solution for algorithms that treat beam-induced perturbations as they must solve the challenge to tune their processing to the instantaneous revolution frequency, Beam Synchronous Processing (BSP). We use dynamic resampling of uniform sampled data as tuning element between a sweeping spectrum and the static processing implemented with fixed frequency clocks. The paper applies the novel Beam Synchronous Processing method to transient beam loading compensation. It presents a One Turn delay FeedBack (OTFB) for the SPS based on a cascade of two variable ratio resamplers.

P.445 Dose-response relationships of antipsychotic drugs for major depressive disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis

New projects being implemented or planned at CERN, such as the LHC Injectors Upgrade (LIU), the High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) or the Future Circular Collider (FCC), motivate the change of several architectural paradigms in the Low Level RF systems (LLRF). In the upgraded Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) LLRF, the distribution of RF, the revolution frequency, settings and synchronization timings will rely on a deterministic link, the White Rabbit (WR), exploiting a distributed topology. The digital electronics (FPGA) will now use a fixed frequency clock extracted locally in each node from this data stream. The paper presents a new solution for algorithms that treat beam-induced perturbations as they must solve the challenge to tune their processing to the instantaneous revolution frequency, Beam Synchronous Processing (BSP). We use dynamic resampling of uniform sampled data as tuning element between a sweeping spectrum and the static processing implemented with fixed frequency clocks. The paper applies the novel Beam Synchronous Processing method to transient beam loading compensation. It presents a One Turn delay FeedBack (OTFB) for the SPS based on a cascade of two variable ratio resamplers.

Source of horizontal instability at the CERN Proton Synchrotron Booster

The CERN Proton Synchrotron Booster (PSB) has been known to suffer from horizontal instabilities since its early operation in the 1970s. These instabilities appear at specific beam energies and range of working points. The source of the instability and the reason why the instabilities appear at specific energies remained unidentified. However, in routine operation, the instabilities have not been limiting the PSB performance reach thanks to the use of a horizontal feedback system, which can suppress their onset for all beam intensities needed in the PSB. Recently, the interest in these instabilities has been revived by the ongoing LHC Injectors Upgrade (LIU) program, as well as, the Physics Beyond Colliders (PBC) study group. In fact, the PSB is being upgraded to a new energy range and higher beam intensities will be requested in future operation. To ensure that these instabilities will not limit the PSB performance in the future parameter range, a systematic characterization has been carried out through several measurements and models. At fixed energy, the dependence of the instability on the working point has been fully studied experimentally. Macroparticle simulations and analytical modeling have been applied to explain the measurements, suggesting that the main driving term behind these instabilities is the unmatched termination of the PSB extraction kickers. Analytical studies also explained for the first time why the instability appears at specific energies in the PSB cycle and showed that no other instability is expected above 1.4 GeV. Finally, the hypothesis on the main instability driving term has been verified experimentally by performing measurements with the kicker terminations temporarily matched. In this configuration, no sign of instability was observed and the extraction kicker could be unambiguously identified as the source of the instability. Some options to permanently suppress the source of the instability are proposed.

Improved HOM-mitigation for future SPS 33-Cell 200 MHz traveling-wave accelerating structures

The CERN SPS 200 MHz traveling-wave (TW) accelerating structures pose an intensity limitation for the planned High Luminosity (HL-) LHC upgrade. Higher-order modes (HOMs) around 630 MHz have been identified as one of the main sources of longitudinal multi-bunch instabilities. Improved mitigation of these HOMs with respect to today’s HOM-damping scheme is therefore an essential part of the LHC injectors upgrade (LIU) project. The basic principles of HOM-couplers in cavities and today’s damping scheme are reviewed. Before illustrating the numerous requirements, an improved damping scheme for the future 33-cell structures must be fulfilled. These are, among others, the mitigation of HOMs situated in the lower part of the structure where there are no access ports for extraction, a sufficient overall damping performance and an acceptable influence on the fundamental accelerating passband (FPB). Different approaches tackling these challenges are investigated and their performance, advantages and pitfalls are evaluated by ACE3P and CST electromagnetic (EM) field solver suites.

Transverse emittance measurement in the CERN Proton Synchrotron in view of beam production for the High-Luminosity LHC

In the framework of the LHC Injectors Upgrade project the improvements required to achieve the parameters of the future beams for the High-Luminosity LHC are being studied and implemented. In order to deliver high brightness beams, control over the beam intensity and emittance is fundamental. Therefore, a highly accurate and reliable transverse emittance measurement is essential. Presently at the CERN Proton Synchrotron, the only operationally available emittance monitors not impacting the facility beam production are the flying wire scanners used to measure the circulating beam profile. The wire scanners will be replaced with a new generation in the next two years and a prototype is already installed. The prototype has been commissioned with beams featuring a wide range of intensities and emittances. This paper evaluates the performance of the prototype with respect to the present system via beam-based measurements. The transverse emittance measurement is discussed, considering the different potential error contributions to the measurement, such as knowledge of the machine optics and the dispersive contribution to the beam size.

Resonance identification studies at the CERN PS

In view of the LHC Injectors Upgrade (LIU) and the challenging high brightness target beam parameters, a broad range of possible working points for the Proton Synchrotron (PS) is being investigated. High order resonances have been identified, both structural resonances driven by space charge due to the lattice harmonics of the PS, and resonances excited by multipolar components in the machine. This paper provides a summary of the performed tune scan studies, covering both experimental and simulation results. Furthermore, non-linear analysis techniques have been used to characterize the resonances and their effect on the beam in presence of space charge.

CERN Proton Synchrotron booster space charge simulations with a realistic model for alignment and field errorsn1

The CERN Proton Synchrotron booster (PSB) is one of the machines of the LHC injector chain which will be upgraded within the LHC Injectors Upgrade (LIU) project. The injection energy of the PSB will be increased to 160 MeV in order to mitigate direct space charge effects, considered to be the main performance limitation, aiming to double the brightness for the LHC beams. In order to better predict the gain to be expected, space charge simulations are being carried out. As a first step, benchmarking between simulations and measurements is needed. Efforts to establish a realistic modeling of field and alignment errors aim at extending the basic model of the machine toward a more realistic one. Simulations of beam dynamics with strong space charge and realistic errors are presented and analyzed in this paper.

Transverse beam coupling impedance of the CERN Proton Synchrotron

Beam coupling impedance is a fundamental parameter to characterize the electromagnetic interaction of a particle beam with the surrounding environment. Synchrotron machine performances are critically affected by instabilities and collective effects triggered by beam coupling impedance. In particular, transverse beam coupling impedance is expected to impact beam dynamics of the CERN Proton Synchrotron (PS), since a significant increase in beam intensity is foreseen within the framework of the LHC Injectors Upgrade (LIU) project. In this paper we describe the study of the transverse beam coupling impedance of the PS, taking into account the main sources of geometrical impedance and the contribution of indirect space charge at different energies. The total machine impedance budget, determined from beam-based dedicated machine measurement sessions, is also discussed and compared with the theoretical model.

Beam-wall interaction in the CERN Proton Synchrotron for the LHC upgrade

Coupling impedances and wakefields are fundamental quantities to characterize the electromagnetic interaction of a particle beam with the surrounding environment. In particular, collective effects, triggered by these self-induced fields, may play an important role in beam stability and machine performance. Within the framework of the LHC Injectors Upgrade project, since a significantly higher beam intensity is planned for the CERN Proton Synchrotron, wakefields are expected to increase their influence on the beam dynamics, and their evaluation is becoming important. In this paper we present the results of recent measurements of the longitudinal broadband coupling impedance by means of the incoherent quadrupole synchrotron frequency shift as a function of beam intensity. A detailed evaluation of the contribution of several machine installations to the total impedance budget is also presented and compared with the measurements.