The CERN SPL Chopper Structure. A Status Report

In the framework of HIPPI, a study for a Superconducting Proton Linac is being carried out at CERN. An integral part of the medium energy line is the chopper, which has to establish the required time structure of the beam by cutting out selected bunches from the continuous bunch train coming out of the RFQ. Due to the bunch spacing of 2.84 ns a system rise and fall time of 2 ns is required. A slow wave structure matched to the beam speed of 0.08c was chosen as the most promising candidate. This structure was implemented as a meander line printed on a ceramic substrate. The mechanical design as well as technological issues are discussed. Furthermore, the results of comprehensive tests on the prototype are reported

Longitudinal and Transverse Wire Measurements for the Evaluation of Impedance Reduction Measures on the MKE Extraction Kickers

In 2003 significant heating of the MKE Extraction kicker magnets in CERN's SPS was confirmed by measurements with beam. The dissipated power was so high that it would seriously jeopardize the good functioning of the kicker by warming the ferrite above the Curie temperature. In an impedance reduction campaign the beam coupling impedance of the present kickers was assessed with wire measurements and possible cures were evaluated. For a reliable impedance determination refined measurement methods had to be used. Any kicker modification should not deteriorate kick field quality and high voltage capability. Shielding the ferrites with printed metallic strips turned out to be a promising solution. Technological issues of the metallic coatings are also discussed

Experimental Electron Cloud Studies in the CERN Proton Synchrotron

Indications for a beam-induced electron cloud build-up are observed since 2000 for the nominal LHC beam in the PS to SPS transfer line and during the last turns before ejection from the PS. A new electron cloud setup was designed, built, and installed in the PS. It contains shielded button-type pickups, a dipole magnet, a vacuum gauge, and a dedicated stripline electrode to experimentally verify the beneficial effect of electron cloud clearing electrodes. During the 2007 run, the electron cloud effect was also clearly observed in the PS and efficient electron cloud suppression has been obtained for negative and positive bias voltages on the clearing electrode. Here, we present electron cloud measurements with different filling patterns and bunch spacings in the PS

Comparison between Laboratory Measurements, Simulations and Analytical Predictions of the Resistive Wall Transverse Beam Impedance at low frequencies

The prediction of the resistive wall transverse beam impedance at the first unstable betatron line (8 kHz) of the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is of paramount importance for understanding and controlling the related coupled-bunch instability. Until now only novel analytical formulas were available at this frequency. Recently, laboratory measurements and numerical simulations were performed to crosscheck the analytical predictions. The experimental results based on the measurement of the variation of a probe coil inductance in the presence of i) sample graphite plates, ii) stand-alone LHC collimator jaws and iii) a full LHC collimator assembly are presented in detail. The measurement results are compared to both analytical theories and simulations. In addition, the consequences for the understanding of the LHC impedance are discussed

Bench measurements of the Low Frequency Transverse Impedance of the CERN LHC Beam Vacuum Interconnects with RF Contacts

The low frequency longitudinal and transverse impedances of the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) have to be specifically minimized to prevent the onset of coherent instabilities. The LHC beam vacuum interconnects were designed as Plug In Modules (PIMs) with RF contacts to reduce their coupling impedances, but the resulting contact resistance is a concern, as this effect is difficult to estimate. High sensitivity measurements of the transverse impedance of a PIM at low frequency using a coil probe are presented. In particular, the increase of the transverse impedance of the PIM when it is elongated to its operating position is discussed in detail. Finally, the issue of non-conforming contact resistance is also addressed

Novel types of anti-ecloud surfaces

In high power RF devices for space, secondary electron emission appears as the main parameter governing the multipactor effect and as well as the e-cloud in large accelerators. Critical experimental activities included development of coatings with low secondary electron emission yield (SEY) for steel (large accelerators) and aluminium (space applications). Coatings with surface roughness of high aspect ratio producing the so-call secondary emission suppression effect appear as the selected strategy. In this work a detailed study of the SEY of these technological coatings and also the experimental deposition methods (PVD and electrochemical) are presented. The coating-design approach selected for new low SEY coatings include rough metals (Ag, Au, Al), rough alloys (NEG), particulated and magnetized surfaces, and also graphene like coatings. It was found that surface roughness also mitigate the SEY deterioration due to aging processes.Comment: 4 pages, contribution to the Joint INFN-CERN-EuCARD-AccNet Workshop on Electron-Cloud Effects: ECLOUD'12; 5-9 Jun 2012, La Biodola, Isola d'Elba, Italy; CERN Yellow Report CERN-2013-002, pp.153-15

Geodesics for Efficient Creation and Propagation of Order along Ising Spin Chains

Experiments in coherent nuclear and electron magnetic resonance, and optical spectroscopy correspond to control of quantum mechanical ensembles, guiding them from initial to final target states by unitary transformations. The control inputs (pulse sequences) that accomplish these unitary transformations should take as little time as possible so as to minimize the effects of relaxation and decoherence and to optimize the sensitivity of the experiments. Here we give efficient syntheses of various unitary transformations on Ising spin chains of arbitrary length. The efficient realization of the unitary transformations presented here is obtained by computing geodesics on a sphere under a special metric. We show that contrary to the conventional belief, it is possible to propagate a spin order along an Ising spin chain with coupling strength J (in units of Hz), significantly faster than 1/(2J) per step. The methods presented here are expected to be useful for immediate and future applications involving control of spin dynamics in coherent spectroscopy and quantum information processing

Measurement of the longitudinal and transverse impedance of kicker magnets using the coaxial wire method

Fast kicker magnets are used to inject beam into and eject beam out of the CERN SPS accelerator ring. These kickers are generally ferrite loaded transmission line type magnets with a rectangular shaped aperture through which the beam passes. Unless special precautions are taken the impedance of the ferrite yoke can provoke significant beam induced heating, even above the Curie temperature of ferrite. In addition the impedance can contribute to beam instabilities. In this paper different variants of the coaxial wire method, both for measuring longitudinal and transverse impedance, are briefly discussed in a tutorial manner and do's and don'ts are shown on practical examples. In addition we present the results of several impedance measurements for SPS kickers using the wire method and compare those results with theoretical models