Implementation of synchronised PS-SPS transfer with barrier buckets

TL;DR

This paper presents a novel synchronized barrier-bucket transfer scheme for CERN accelerators, combining feedforward and real-time control to minimize beam loss during high-intensity transfers.

Contribution

It introduces a new method for synchronizing barrier-bucket RF systems with accelerator extraction and injection, enhancing beam transfer efficiency.

Findings

Successful demonstration with high-intensity beam

Effective synchronization of barrier phase with extraction and injection

Reduced beam loss during transfer

Abstract

For the future intensity increase of the fixed-target beams in the CERN accelerator complex, a barrier-bucket scheme has been developed to reduce the beam loss during the 5-turn extraction from the PS towards the SPS, the so-called Multi-Turn Extraction. The low-level RF system must synchronise the barrier phase with the PS extraction and SPS injection kickers to minimise the number of particles lost during the rise times of their fields. As the RF voltage of the wide-band cavity generating the barrier bucket would be too low for a conventional synchronisation, a combination of a feedforward cogging manipulation and the real-time control of the barrier phase has been developed and tested. A deterministic frequency bump has been added to compensate for the imperfect circumference ratio between PS and SPS. This contribution presents the concept and implementation of the synchronised barrier-bucket transfer. Measurements with high-intensity beam demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed transfer scheme.