Alignment and Aperture Scan at the Fermilab Booster

TL;DR

This paper discusses beam alignment and aperture measurements at Fermilab's Booster, aiming to support the Proton Improvement Plan by analyzing beam loss sources and magnet realignment to increase aperture.

Contribution

It presents detailed analysis of beam scans and magnet realignment strategies to reduce beam loss and enhance aperture for higher intensity operation.

Findings

Aperture measurements compared with survey data

Magnet realignment planned to increase aperture

Analysis of beam loss sources during injection

Abstract

The Fermilab booster has an intensity upgrade plan called the Proton Improvement plan (PIP). The flux throughput goal is 2E17 protons/hour, which is almost double the current operation at 1.1E17 protons/hour. The beam loss in the machine is going to be the source of issues. The booster accelerates beam from 400 MeV to 8 GeV and extracts to the Main Injector. Several percent of the beam is lost within 3 msec after the injection. The aperture at injection energy was measured and compared with the survey data. The magnets are going to be realigned in March 2012 in order to increase the aperture. The beam studies, analysis of the scan and alignment data, and the result of the magnet moves will be discussed in this paper.