Online measurement of the energy spread of multi-turn beam in the Fermilab Booster at injection

TL;DR

This paper presents a computer program that measures the energy spread of a proton beam in the Fermilab Booster at injection, using a digitizing oscilloscope and wall current monitor data for real-time and offline analysis.

Contribution

It introduces a novel software tool that automates the measurement of beam energy spread during injection in the Fermilab Booster.

Findings

Energy spread varies with beam intensity.

The method provides real-time measurement capabilities.

Offline analysis options enhance data evaluation.

Abstract

We have developed a computer program interfaced with the ACNET environment of Fermilab accelerators to measure energy spread of the proton beam from the LINAC at an injection into the Booster. It uses a digitizing oscilloscope and provides users an ability to configure the scope settings for optimal data acquisition from a resistive wall current monitor. When the program is launched, a) a ${\it one\ shot\ timeline}$ is generated to initiate beam injection into the Booster, b) a gap of about 40 ns is produced in the injected beam using a set of fast kickers, c) collects line charge distribution data from the wall current monitor for the first 200 $\mu$s from the injection and d) performs complete data analysis to extract full beam energy spread of the beam. The program also gives the option to store the data for offline analyses. We illustrate a case with an example. We also present results on beam energy spread as a function of beam intensity from recent measurements.